At the end of spring
by tearsbehindthemask
Summary: There are tears falling in Konoha, the Sakura blossoms are still blooming but Sakura has passed away. Naruto and Sasuke become closer while they share the same sadness, a romance will bloom. SasuNaru story.
1. A rainy day in spring

**Hi readers, after a long time… I'm back:)**** I came up with this story during some lessons at school or something, but I just didn't have time to work on it -.- School really sucks right now because I'm terrified that I'm going to have to repeat my year after summer vacation… My grades are just… Terrible. But I wrote this, so I hope you like it. Have fun reading!  
Lots of love, Tearsbehindthemask**

Rain fell from sad-looking grey clouds and created small pools of glistering water on the ground.  
Naruto and Sasuke were standing amidst a large group of people, they were all soaked but that wasn't important.  
"My daughter… Was a beautiful girl… A beautiful woman." the woman that was talking took a deep breath to gather courage to speak further, "And she wasn't only beautiful. She was also kind… and brave. She was a woman to be proud of. My little girl…"  
The woman that just talked started to cry again. Her husband put an arm around her and guided her back to the crowd.  
Naruto felt tears welling up but he couldn't cry. He was a ninja. He should control his feelings.  
It was now his turn to say something.  
"Sadness… Is something that's left in our hearts right now." he started, "But we remember all the good moments. Everything that she was and she did in life… She was brave, kind and beautiful. A ninja, a teammate, but above all a friend… We'll miss you Sakura. "  
Naruto dropped a white rose on the grave of his teammate and walked back towards the crowd.  
Sasuke put a hand on his shoulder to support Naruto.  
Naruto looked up at his friend and smiled. They were going through the same pain now.

A few minutes later it was silent on the graveyard. Most of the people had returned home, only Naruto and Sasuke were left.  
"What will we do now?" Naruto asked, staring at Sakura's grave with tears in his eyes, "We lost… our teammate…"  
Sasuke kept looking at the grave in silence, he looked at Naruto's white rose.  
"We should… move on." he said, swallowing his grief. "She died… as a ninja. She wouldn't want us to give up being ninjas…"  
"You're right."Naruto whispered, "Sakura wouldn't have wanted that for us…"  
Tears were flowing from Naruto's bright blue eyes.  
"Don't cry now, baka." Sasuke said, punching Naruto, "We have to be men. We have to be ninjas. For ourselves, and for Sakura."  
"Yes…"  
"Let's get something to eat now." Sasuke said, looking up at the sky, "I'm not in the mood for cooking right now."

A few minutes later, Sasuke and Naruto arrived at Ichiraku ramen.  
"Two large bowls of ramen, please." Sasuke said to the old man, sitting down at the bar with Naruto.  
Naruto didn't say anything and played with his chopsticks. Sasuke stared at it, waiting for the ramen to arrive so he could do something a bit more useful.  
"Hey, Sasuke…"  
"What is it?" Sasuke asked, looking up at Naruto's face.  
"Well… Sakura… She liked you…"  
Sasuke stayed silent for a while.  
"Yes, she did." he then said, "What do you want to say?"  
"… Did you like her too?"  
Sasuke stared at Naruto, surprised by his question.  
"Why do you ask?"  
"Well… I liked her." Naruto whispered.  
Sasuke looked at Naruto and sighed.  
"Well… Yeah… Maybe I liked her… somewhat."  
"But now she's gone. Now neither of us will be with her." Naruto said, fighting against some tears again.  
"No. We won't."  
"The ramen is ready boys." the old man said, placing two large bowls in front of Naruto and Sasuke. "It's on the house today. Medicine to heal the heart."  
"Thanks, old man." Naruto said, with a little smile.  
In silence the two ate their ramen.  
When Naruto finished his ramen, he didn't ask for seconds like he usually did.  
Sasuke noticed it but didn't say anything about it. It would probably be better if he didn't.  
When Sasuke finished his own ramen, he looked at Naruto, who was staring at his empty bowl.  
"I'll take you home." Sasuke said, noticing the tired expression on Naruto's face.  
"You don't need to walk me home." Naruto said, looking up at Sasuke in confusion, "I'm not a girl, you know…"  
"Of course you're not a girl." Sasuke said, on his usual, annoyed tone, "I would've chosen a prettier girl to walk home if you were a girl…"  
"Sasuke!"  
For a moment, it seemed like everything was normal. Like they hadn't been to a funeral this afternoon and like nobody died. But soon, Naruto's face turned sad again, and the sadness came back.  
Naruto and Sasuke thanked the old man and headed towards Naruto's home. Naruto didn't say anything while they were walking so Sasuke kept quiet too.

When they arrived, Naruto put his key in the door and turned it. Sasuke waited while Naruto opened the door and turned on his lights.  
"Well… eh… Would you like something to drink before you leave?" Naruto asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable.  
His original plan was actually to go home after the funeral, eat some instant ramen at home and cry until he would fall asleep.  
Now… Things didn't all go as planned.  
"Yeah. Yeah, I would like something to drink." Sasuke said, and he stepped inside.  
Naruto disappeared to get something to drink and Sasuke sat down on a chair that was besides the small dinner table.  
After a while, Naruto returned with drinks and sat down on a chair on the other side of the table.  
"Thanks." Sasuke said, and then there was silence again.  
Sasuke looked around and saw that it was quite a mess in Naruto's apartment.  
"You never clean up, don't you?" he asked smirking.  
"What did you say…?!"  
Naruto turned red and looked around and saw the mess all around him.  
"Okay… You're right. I never clean up, don't have the time for it anyway. Last time Sakura was here she nearly fainted when she saw the mess…."  
Naruto's voice faded away and he felt the burning of tears in his eyes again.  
"No, baka, don't cry now…" Sasuke began, but Naruto started sobbing again.  
Naruto felt miserable. He didn't want to cry in front of Sasuke. He would never be taken serious again, like this.  
A soft touch wiped away Naruto's tears.  
Naruto opened his eyes in surprise and saw Sasuke, leaning over the table with a worried look on his face.  
"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked, wiping the tears of Naruto's cheeks now.  
Naruto couldn't say anything because his breath was taken away. He just nodded.  
Sasuke was so close…  
"That's good." Sasuke said, smiling a bit. "You shouldn't cry so much."  
The rain was getting worse outside.  
"Please… Don't cry anymore."  
Sasuke leaned forward and Naruto's eyes widened when Sasuke's soft lips brushed his.  
Then Sasuke backed off.  
"Are you angry with me now?" he asked Naruto, who had stopped crying at once.  
"… No." he whispered.  
"That's good." Sasuke said smiling, and he kissed Naruto again.  
This time, Naruto felt Sasuke's lips touching his own and Sasuke's tongue teasing his lips.  
Naruto, in all his innocence, didn't know what this sign meant and after a while the sweet kiss ended.  
There was a silence and Naruto blinked his eyes a few times.  
"So… What does this mean…?" he asked, looking up at Sasuke, with a different feeling than usual.  
"It's up to you to decide that." Sasuke said simply. "I should be going now."  
He walked towards Naruto and placed a kiss on his cheek.  
"Bye, Naruto."  
Sasuke walked away and left an astonished Naruto alone in the apartment.  
After a while, Naruto came to his senses and he walked towards the window. He saw Sasuke walking on the street in the rain.  
"Sasuke…" he whispered, "I think… I love you."  
Then, Naruto saw the picture of team seven and he saw Sakura. He started to cry again…


	2. Love, death, confusion

**Hi readers, sorry for the long wait but I was too busy screwing up my school results and all… Well, it was time to write again after a weekend of cosplaying as Naruto, two weeks vacation and a lot of other stuff, so I hope you enjoy the story :)**

**Lots of love, Tearsbehindthemask  
I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!**

Naruto woke up and still felt tired. He didn't sleep for long, he couldn't stop thinking about Sakura… And Sasuke…  
Why couldn't he stop thinking about Sasuke?  
It was logical for him to think about Sakura since she died and he had loved her… But Sasuke… Why?  
Naruto slowly touched his lips and blushed. Sasuke kissed him…  
No. It wasn't possible for him to fall in love with Sasuke. It couldn't be… He was his friend… Well… Sort of.  
Naruto sighed and shook his head to clear his thoughts. He had to think about other things. He had a new mission today, he and Sasuke had to help out Tsunade who was drowning in her work again.  
"Why the hell do we have to help that old lady…" Naruto yawned.  
He got out of bed, took his clothes from the chair where he dumped them last night and put them on.  
After that he tied his headband and put his shuriken in his pouch. After a last look in the mirror, Naruto left his house.  
It was quiet on the streets, it was still early and the clouds looked as they were full of rain.  
"Please don't start crying." Naruto muttered to the clouds.  
The clouds apparently listened to Naruto because it didn't start to rain while Naruto was walking on the streets.  
"I'm here, old lady." Naruto yawned, when he walked into Tsunade's office.  
"Naruto!" Tsunade yelled from somewhere behind huge piles of paper, "How many times do I have to make clear that I don't want to be called like that?!"  
"Sorry, old lady." Naruto grinned.  
"NARUTO!"  
Tsunade appeared from behind the paper piles and grabbed Naruto's shoulders.  
"What did I…"  
Tsunade stopped talking when she saw the sadness on Naruto's face. His usual expression of happiness and determination was mingled with sadness.  
"… Naruto… Are you okay?" she asked quietly.  
Naruto didn't like people worrying about him. He wiped the sadness of his face with a fake but very convincing smile.  
"I'm okay, old lady. Don't worry about me."  
There was a knock on the door and Naruto turned around to see who was entering the room.  
"… Hi."  
Sasuke was standing in the door opening with his usual expressionless look.  
"Ah… Uchiha." Tsunade said, regaining her normal voice. "Good that you're here…"  
Tsunade followed Sasuke's eyes, he wasn't looking at her, he was looking at Naruto.  
Naruto was looking a bit uncomfortable, he was even blushing a bit.  
"Eh… Guys?" Tsunade asked.  
Naruto and Sasuke immediately looked at Tsunade, it looked as if they were shocked by the fact that Tsunade was still in the room.  
"If… you're not ready for work, you can go home for today." Tsunade proposed. She didn't know what was going on but she knew that something was going on.  
"No." Naruto said resolute, "I'm okay."  
Tsunade looked at Sasuke and saw a flash of concern in his eyes. After that he turned his cool gaze at Tsunade and smirked.  
"I never refuse a mission." he said.  
"Then please, bring these papers, those files, and these books," (She pointed at some huge piles) "To the second storage room on the first floor."  
Naruto looked at the stuff and sighed.  
"Old lady, do you know how long that will take?"  
"Yes." Tsunade said smiling, "And that's why I'm not doing it myself. Good luck guys."  
Sasuke sighed too. "Let's go to work then."  
Sasuke and Naruto started to gather paper, files and books and carried them down. It took them all day to empty Tsunade's office.  
Tsunade observed the guys every time that they entered the office. They didn't say a word and if they thought that she wasn't watching, they looked at each other with a sad look on their face. Especially Naruto looked very confused. Tsunade figured that there was something going on between those two but Sakura's death probably had something to do with it too.  
Ah well, they had to get out of this themselves. There wasn't really anything she could do.  
When Sasuke and Naruto were done with their work, Tsunade sent them away.  
In silence the guys walked towards the exit.

It was raining outside, pools of water were on the streets.  
"… Naruto?"  
"… What?"  
"How about dinner at my place? My apartment is a lot closer than yours and I can cook something."  
Naruto looked at Sasuke, a bit suspicious.  
"What will you cook? Can you even cook?"  
Sasuke smiled.  
"Of course I can cook, and I can make a lot of things. What would you like to eat?"  
Before Naruto said something, Sasuke already knew the answer.  
"Ramen." Naruto said.  
"I'll see what I can do." Sasuke said smiling. "So you're coming with me?"  
"I suppose."Naruto muttered.

Sasuke and Naruto were both soaked when they arrived at Sasuke's apartment. Sasuke's apartment was closer than Naruto's, but it still wasn't around the corner.  
Sasuke invited Naruto in and they entered the apartment. Sasuke looked at his clothes and sighed.  
"I'm going to put on some dry clothes, do you need some too?"  
Naruto looked at his clothes and shrugged.  
"Yeah, I guess so."  
Sasuke walked towards his closet and took out some dry clothes, a white pants and a blue t-shirt for himself and a black pants and white shirt for Naruto.  
Sasuke gave Naruto the clothes and took of his own shirt to put on the dry one.  
Naruto couldn't keep himself from looking at Sasuke why he changed his clothes.  
While Naruto put on the clothes (they were slightly to big because Sasuke was a bit taller) he looked at Sasuke's body.  
Sasuke's skin was pale but beautiful, there were no scars to be seen. His whole body looked great…  
Naruto blushed when Sasuke looked his way.  
"Admiring my body?" Sasuke said teasing.  
"Of course not!" Naruto yelled.  
"Okay, okay." Sasuke chuckled, "You look good in that clothes by the way."  
"Shut up." Naruto said with a red face.  
Sasuke disappeared into the small kitchen and Naruto sat down on a chair.  
"Is it okay if I turn on the TV?" Naruto asked.  
"Sure." Sasuke answered from the kitchen.  
Naruto turned on the TV and searched for a nice program.  
Half an hour later, Sasuke appeared with food.  
Naruto smelled the ramen immediately.  
"I tried my best." Sasuke said sighing, "It's probably not as good as Ichiraku's, but I think it wouldn't taste too bad."  
Naruto tried the food and was surprised about how great it tasted. Of course, it wasn't Ichiraku's, but he doubted if he'd rather want Ichiraku ramen.  
"How does it taste?" Sasuke asked.  
"Not too bad." Naruto said smiling.  
"That's good enough for me." Sasuke said.  
Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other and Naruto blushed.  
"It looks cute when you blush." Sasuke said.  
"Stop it." Naruto said, "Sakura looked cute when she blushed."  
Sasuke sighed.  
"Maybe she did. Maybe she didn't…"  
Naruto looked away.  
"I prefer you blushing." Sasuke said.  
"Don't say such things." Naruto muttered.  
Sasuke… he thought.  
"I like you." Sasuke whispered.  
Sasuke… I love you…  
"I… I…"  
"Sakura won't mind." Sasuke said. "She would want us to be happy, right?"  
Naruto sighed.  
"I don't know…" he whispered, with tears in his eyes, "I just don't know…"  
"Don't cry now, Naruto…"  
Sasuke bend forward and embraced Naruto.  
"Don't cry."  
Naruto just couldn't help it. Tears kept falling and maybe they soaked Sasuke's shirt. It didn't matter.  
"Sasuke, I think I love you…" Naruto whispered.  
Sasuke smiled. He just smiled, and held Naruto closer.


	3. My thoughts are with you

**Hi readers! I'm so sorry about the long wait!!! I promise that I'll post the next chapter sooner. But anyway, here's the new chapter! Enjoy! :D  
Lots of love, Tearsbehindthemask  
YAY! ALMOST SUMMER VACATION!!! :3  
Special thanks to DeeDee200 who got me motivated to write a new chapter again. :)**

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! (Still don't… I want to own it because I want to turn Naruto into a yaoi series -Evil laugh- No sorry, of course I won't ruin the anime ;) –coughs- We've got fanfiction for that)

"I have to go now…" Naruto muttered.  
Naruto was standing at the window and staring outside.  
"Why?" Sasuke asked, and he walked towards Naruto.  
"I… It… It's not raining now. I have to get home before the rain starts again."  
Sasuke looked at Naruto but Naruto looked away.  
"You don't have to go home." Sasuke said, "You can sleep here if you want."  
"No. No… I'm going home."  
Naruto looked at Sasuke and this time it was Sasuke's turn to look away.  
"Okay… But, will I see you tomorrow than?" Sasuke asked.  
"… Yeah."  
Sasuke walked towards Naruto and Naruto stepped back.  
"Don't be afraid." Sasuke said sadly, "I'm not going to do anything to you."  
Sasuke placed a gentle kiss on Naruto's forehead.  
"I'll see you tomorrow than. Bye, Naruto."  
Naruto blinked a few times and then turned around to hide his blush. Why did he blush every damn time he was close to Sasuke?  
"Bye…" Naruto said, and he walked out of Sasuke's apartment.  
Sasuke watched the door closing and sighed. Naruto still couldn't accept his feelings…  
Sasuke walked towards the window where Naruto was standing only a minute ago. He saw Naruto walking on the street, hands in the pockets of his black pants… Wait a second!  
Sasuke looked around and saw Naruto's clothes on the floor. He sighed.  
Should he give Naruto his clothes back now? Or should he just wait for Naruto to come and pick them up?  
Sasuke decided that he'd wait for Naruto to come and pick them up. At least Naruto wouldn't have an excuse not to come tomorrow.

Naruto was almost home when he felt the urge to visit Sakura's grave. He couldn't fight it so he turned around and started to walk towards the graveyard.  
Quietly, petals of the Sakura trees fell down. It wouldn't take long until the Sakura trees would've lost all of their beautiful flowers.  
The Sakura flowers weren't immortal, they would fall down once and the trees would grow new flowers the next year.  
But Sakura… Sakura wouldn't come back.  
Naruto looked down at Sakura's grave, there were a lot of flowers on it.  
"Sakura… I… I'm confused." Naruto whispered to the tombstone.  
A Sakura petal brushed Naruto's cheek in its flight towards the ground. Naruto felt tears prickling.  
"If you were still here… I'm sure you could've told me what to do… Well… Kind of."  
Sakura would probably go insane when she found out that Sasuke liked someone else than her. Especially if this someone was a guy…  
"Would you be angry, Sakura? If I told you that I love Sasuke?"  
Silence.  
Naruto kept staring at the grave and shivered. Sakura wouldn't answer him. It was all up to himself if he would love Sasuke or not… No. He already loved Sasuke. He had to decide if he was going to do something with his feelings.  
Naruto sighed and touched the tombstone.  
"Bye, Sakura." Naruto whispered, "I'm leaving now… But I'll come back."  
In the silence that followed, Naruto turned around and walked away. Maybe, after some sleep, he would be able to think more clearly.

When Naruto arrived at his apartment, he decided that he would immediately go to sleep. He took of his clothes and while he was doing this, he noticed it. That he forgot his other clothes at Sasuke's place.  
"Damn."  
Naruto looked outside and saw that it was really dark outside now. It wouldn't be a good idea to pick up his clothes now, it was too late.  
He had to get back tomorrow to pick up his clothes.  
Naruto smiled. He was really going back tomorrow. He promised it to Sasuke, but he wasn't really sure if he'd go. Now he had to go.  
Sasuke would probably be happy…  
Naruto sighed and lay down on his bed. He had to sleep first. Tomorrow only matters when it becomes today.

Sasuke couldn't sleep. He was staring at some point in his room, not really seeing anything particular. He was thinking.  
Did he do the right thing by telling Naruto about his feeling so suddenly? He might've scared him…  
"Naruto… Was it wrong of me to kiss you back then?"  
Sasuke sighed.  
Well, in any case, Naruto had to come back to pick up his clothes. Maybe… maybe Naruto would've accepted his feelings by then…  
Sasuke turned his head and saw the picture of team 7 next to his bed. He and Naruto looked really annoyed just to be in the same picture.  
Sasuke smiled. They weren't that much older now but it felt like hundreds of years had passed since that picture was taken…  
Sakura was smiling brightly, her usual expression… At least, the expression that he had seen most of the time next to her looks of admiration and love…  
Sasuke didn't really know if he'd ever really liked Sakura. He had to admit that he once had some feelings for her, but it was never the same as his feelings for Naruto.  
Now he was thinking about it… When did he start to like Naruto anyway?  
Sasuke stared at the Naruto in the picture.  
When? Why?  
Sasuke thought about all the things he and Naruto had been through together. He realized that their friendship or something like that had started a really long time ago. It was when they both realized each other's loneliness… They had made a silent agreement that they'd accept each other and there was a friendship which they both never mentioned. Like their friendship was a secret…  
But he wasn't in love with Naruto back then. He couldn't even understand 'love' at that age…  
Then… at school? They had always acted like they hated each other, at least, Sasuke had 'acted' that he hated Naruto and he was quite sure that Naruto had done the same thing.  
When did his feelings of friendship turn into love?  
Wait a second… That kiss that Sasuke had given Naruto only some time ago… It wasn't their first kiss! Of course, the first kiss was an accident but… It was a kiss anyway!  
So… was that the moment that everything changed?  
Sasuke couldn't remember anymore. It didn't really matter though. He loved Naruto and that was all he had to know.  
He gave the Naruto in the picture one last look and smiled.  
"Goodnight, Naruto. I'll probably see you tomorrow… I'm looking forward to it."  
Then he looked at Sakura and with a sad smile he added: "Sleep well, Sakura…"

Naruto turned around in his bed again. He still couldn't sleep.  
He looked at his picture of team 7, he looked at Sasuke in the picture and smiled. He'd always pretended to hate Sasuke while he actually wanted to be his friend… Why had he acted so stupid?  
And… Did Sasuke really hate him back then? Even though he said he loved Naruto now?  
Of course, Naruto couldn't know that Sasuke was thinking about him and looking at the same picture at that moment.  
They were still thinking about each other. It was hard not to think about the other…  
Their thoughts would never be far away from each other. They would never be alone.  
Was this their promise of love?


	4. Confessions

**Hi readers! Of course, there I go again promising that the next chapter will be posted sooner than the last one… I'm sorry but I forgot all about my vacation 0.o I've been on a boat with my parents for weeks and I could write my story (though I must say I didn't think about it a lot), but I couldn't post it… And I kind of had a writers block… -.- So I'm really, really sorry! I still hope that you enjoy reading this though :)  
Lots of love, Tearsbehindthemask**

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

Sasuke woke up way to early, the sunlight hadn't reached his room yet and the birds were still quiet.  
Sasuke yawned and stretched his body.  
When he checked the time, he noticed that it was only 5 'o clock.  
"What the…"  
Then Sasuke smiled. Naruto would come again today…  
He looked at Naruto's clothes.  
"I hope you'll be here soon." Sasuke whispered.  
Since he realized that he wouldn't be able to sleep now anyway, Sasuke got out of bed and walked towards the kitchen. Still yawning, he made himself some breakfast.  
When Sasuke finished eating, he got dressed and sat down on a chair. He took the book that was on the little table in front of him and tried to read.  
After reading the same page six times, Sasuke noticed that he didn't remember a word of what he had read. He sighed and put the book down. The sunlight had found his window and rays of sunlight fell in his room.  
Sasuke opened the glass door to his balcony and stepped outside. The air was cold but pleasant.  
Somewhere on the street a man was walking fast, he was probably late for his work. Even at this early hour, you could be late.  
Sasuke breathed in the fresh air and stared in the direction of Naruto's apartment.  
"I hope you'll be here soon." Sasuke muttered.  
Then, Sasuke saw a flash of blonde hair in the streets.  
"… Naruto?"  
No. It couldn't be Naruto! It was like… 6 'o clock or something?! It was impossible that Naruto would be here at a time like this.  
Sasuke stepped back so that he wouldn't be seen on the balcony. Curiously, he peeked down towards the place where he had seen the blonde hair.  
For a moment, he didn't see anything. Then, he saw the blonde hair appearing from behind a house.  
The blue eyes that stared directly at his balcony couldn't belong to anyone else than Naruto.  
"So you came to me…" Sasuke muttered.  
He knew that Naruto couldn't see him from down there and Sasuke followed Naruto's movements.  
It looked like Naruto didn't want to be noticed. He hid in the shadows of houses and kept looking at Sasuke's balcony. He was waiting.  
Sasuke couldn't stand looking at Naruto any longer like this. He crawled back into his apartment unnoticed and stood up, it wasn't good to let Naruto catch a cold out there…

Naruto was hiding behind in the shadows of a narrow street between two houses, from there he had a good view on Sasuke's balcony. He waited for a sign of Sasuke to show up there.  
Naruto sighed. What was he doing? It was barely morning and he was hiding outside in the cold, waiting to go to Sasuke.  
Why?  
Naruto buried his face in his hands. Was he really in love with Sasuke?  
"Naruto?"  
Naruto looked up and looked into Sasuke's black eyes.  
"…Sasuke?"  
"I couldn't sleep either." Sasuke said smiling.  
Naruto blushed. "I…"  
"It's probably better to go inside, you might catch a cold like this."  
"Yeah." Naruto muttered, "You're probably right."  
Gently, Sasuke helped Naruto up and the boys walked towards Sasuke's apartment.  
"So… How long were you waiting out there?" Sasuke asked, while he opened the door.  
Naruto muttered something unintelligible and Sasuke grinned.  
"Was it so long?"  
"Two hours." Naruto said quietly.  
Sasuke laughed.  
"You could've just knocked on my door you know."  
They stepped inside and Sasuke closed the door.  
"Do you know what time it is?" Naruto said, raising his eyebrows.  
"Yeah, but I was awake for some time now too. I saw you when I was on the balcony to get some fresh air."  
"… I didn't see you on the balcony…"  
Naruto turned red, he had just admitted that he was spying on Sasuke's balcony…  
"I'm glad that you're here."Sasuke said smiling, "I would've gone mad waiting for you all morning…"  
"Sasuke…"  
"I guess you haven't had breakfast yet?" It was more like a conclusion than a question.  
"No, I haven't." Naruto muttered.  
"I'll make some." Sasuke said, and he disappeared in the kitchen.  
"Shouldn't I make you some food once? I mean… You've already cooked for me before…"  
Naruto heard Sasuke laughing from the kitchen, Sasuke's head appeared in the door opening.  
"I'm not sure if I'm ready for Uzumaki Naruto's cooking skills." he grinned.  
Naruto felt his face turning red again.  
"I'm not… that bad…" Naruto muttered, a bit apologizing.  
"I was just joking." Sasuke said smiling, and he disappeared in the kitchen again.  
Naruto sighed. Then he thought about Sasuke. Was it normal for him to smile so much? Now that he thought about it… Sasuke almost never smiled. But… Now he was smiling… Most of the time when he was with him.  
Did I cause that? Naruto thought shocked.  
Then Sasuke came in with breakfast and in silence they ate together, exchanging smiles when they looked each other in the eyes.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, while they were doing the dishes.  
"Hmm?"  
"You usually… almost never smiled didn't you?"  
Sasuke looked at Naruto, confused by the unexpected question.  
"What do you mean by with that?" he asked, trying to sound confident.  
"It's just… You… Seem to be smiling a lot more these days… Is that… Because of me?"  
Sasuke looked at Naruto in surprise, Naruto was staring at the floor, a bit uncomfortable.  
An impulse told Sasuke to wrap his arms around Naruto and he did so.  
"Naruto… I only smile because of you. I love you, you know that… And there aren't many other things to smile about."  
"You mean… You're brother?" Naruto whispered.  
"Among other things. Sakura."  
Naruto clutched Sasuke's shirt. Sasuke looked down at Naruto in surprise.  
"Do you… Love me more than you love Sakura?" Naruto said, sounding like he tried to hold his tears.  
"Naruto…"  
Sasuke pulled Naruto even closer and he felt Naruto's warm tears through his clothes.  
"Naruto, I love you, probably even more than you can imagine… I loved Sakura too, but never the way I love you."  
"Am I not a substitute for Sakura? Just a way to forget her?"  
Sasuke was shocked by this assumption, he stroked Naruto's blonde hair.  
"How can you say something like that…" he whispered. "I've never loved someone as much as I love you… I swear, I love you because you're you. You're no substitute or whatever… Naruto…"  
Naruto looked up, his eyes red and puffy.  
"I'm sorry, Sasuke… I never meant to say something like that… I… I just…"  
Naruto couldn't find any words to express what he wanted to say. Instead of saying anything, he touched Sasuke's cheek with his hand and placed a little kiss on Sasuke's lips.  
Sasuke looked at Naruto. Surprised, confused, thankful, in love.  
"Naruto…"  
"I think I'm sure now… That I'm in love with you." Naruto whispered.  
"I was sure of that a long time ago." Sasuke said smiling.  
"You're smiling again." Naruto said, a smile on his face too.  
"How could I not smile when I see you." Sasuke said, caressing Naruto's cheek.

"Uchiha Sasuke?"  
There was a knock on the door and Naruto and Sasuke both turned to the door immediately when they heard it.  
"Who is it?" Sasuke asked cautious.  
"Tsugumi Akira, a messenger of Tsunade-sama."  
Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other and Sasuke walked towards the door to open it. Naruto was quickly splashing water on his face to hide the fact that he'd just cried.  
When Sasuke opened the door there was a young man with short brown hair standing in front of him.  
"What's the message?" Sasuke asked, while Naruto appeared behind him.  
"Ah, Uzumaki Naruto, you're here too." the messenger said when he saw Naruto, "The message had to be delivered to you both. My next stop would've been you're place…"  
"Just give us the message." Naruto said impatient.  
"Right… Tsunade-sama wants you both to come to her office. There's a new mission for you. Tsunade-sama will give you the details. That was the message."  
"Thanks." Sasuke said, "We'll be going to Tsunade-sama soon."  
The messenger bowed and walked away.  
Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other.  
"I think they think that our time of mourning is over." Sasuke sighed.  
"Just when I confessed my feelings and all…" Naruto muttered.  
"Ah, well… We can't let a mission wait can't we?"  
"Of course not." Naruto said, his confident smile on his face, "Let's go."  
"Eh… Naruto?"  
"What?" Naruto asked annoyed, his hand already on the doorknob.  
"Don't you think you should wear your own clothes when we're going to Tsunade-sama?"  
Naruto looked at his clothes and realized that he was still wearing the clothes that he'd borrowed from Sasuke.  
"Yeah, that might be a good idea…"  
Sasuke gave Naruto the clothes and Naruto started to change.  
Sasuke was looking at Naruto while he changed and he already saw Naruto's face turning red.  
"Sasuke…"  
"Hmm?"  
"Would you mind looking at something else?!"  
"Yes, I would." Sasuke said smiling.  
Naruto sighed and put on his clothes quickly.  
"Ready to go on a mission?" Sasuke asked.  
"Always." Naruto said with a smile, "Especially with you."


	5. Mission

**Hi readers! Sadly, my vacation is over… School started a few days ago, and my homework is already piling up T-T… These days I'm trying to learn how to play the guitar, and I play way to much so I'm kind of killing my fingertips. That's really not nice to play or to type with -.- Well, whatever. I hope you enjoy the new chapter:)!  
Lots of love, Tearsbehindthemask**

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! (Like I didn't say that before…)

"Come in."  
Naruto smiled sadly when he heard Tsunade's voice coming from the office.  
He couldn't help it because it felt like a really long time ago that he was here, getting an assignment for a new mission. Not to talk about the details of Sakura's death.  
Sasuke opened the door and they saw Tsunade sitting behind her desk.  
Shizune was sitting on the floor, looking at some papers that surrounded her. She looked up when Naruto and Sasuke entered the room.  
When Naruto and Sasuke were standing in front of Tsunade's desk, Tsunade was looking at them intently.  
"Sasuke. Naruto…" she said with her business voice. Then she added, more friendly: "How are you?"  
Naruto couldn't really answer the question and muttered something that nobody could hear.  
"… Better." Sasuke said after a silence, "I'd lie if I said everything was all right. But it's better than… some time ago."  
"Right." Tsunade decided that it was better if she wouldn't ask any more questions so she moved on to talking about the new mission. "As you probably know, I called you because I've got a new mission for you."  
"For us? Do you mean the two of us?" Sasuke asked.  
"Yes. For the two of you, if you think that you're ready. Kakashi is on a mission now, so I can't send him with you, and I don't think that you'd cooperate with a new team leader very well in short time."  
"What about Yamato?" Sasuke asked.  
"He's leading another team, their team leader passed away some time ago and it was necessary that they'd get a new one."  
"We're ready to go without a team leader!" Naruto said enthusiastically, "Are we finally recognized as Jounin?"  
Tsunade frowned.  
"I agree with you that you're probably ready to go on a mission without a team leader. About your rank… Let's not talk about that right now."  
"But…!"  
"Naruto! I must admit that you and Sasuke, especially Sasuke, are probably on the level of Jounin, but I can't just make you a Jounin. There are exams, official papers that need to be looked at… So just be patient. When it's time for you to become a Jounin, I'll call you."  
"Hmm…"  
Sasuke saw that Naruto still wasn't happy with the situation but that he also wouldn't complain about it anymore now.  
"So what's the mission?" Sasuke asked to break the silence.  
"Right. The mission." Tsunade shook her head to get her thoughts back to the point. "Your mission isn't an easy one. You're going to infiltrate in the Lightning country, north-west of the Fire country."  
"The Lightning country?" Sasuke said surprised.  
"What the hell are we supposed to do there?" Naruto asked, even more surprised than Sasuke felt.  
Tsunade sighed.  
"A few weeks ago, a ninja from the Lightning country visited Konoha. Of course we treated him as a guest, showed him the village, the usual stuff. The guy had more interest in our scrolls than a usual person has though. When we decided that we'd guard him for the remaining time that he spent in the village, he was already gone. I knew that something was wrong and went to the building where our scrolls are being kept."  
"Were the scrolls gone?! Did he burn down the building?!" Naruto asked loudly, really into the story.  
"Naruto, if a building burnt down, I'm sure that we would've known…"  
"They stole the scroll of the dragon." Tsunade whispered.  
Sasuke stared at Tsunade, he was shocked. Naruto looked from Sasuke to Tsunade.  
"Is that bad?" Naruto asked.  
"It's bad." Sasuke sighed.  
"The scroll of the dragon was created by the Uchiha clan a long time ago." Tsunade began, "It was created to seal an immense power that the Uchiha clan created, even they couldn't control it."  
"So what is this power that's been sealed?" Naruto asked, "Is it a real dragon? Some weird technique? Something more powerful that the Sharingan?"  
"Nobody knows." Sasuke said, staring out the window, "But it's probably stronger than the Sharingan."  
"It's very important that this power won't be awakened again." Tsunade said worried, "It's your job to find the thief and bring the Dragon scroll back to Konoha."  
"What should we do with the thief?" Sasuke asked.  
"If it's possible, bring him back. If not…" Tsunade hesitated, "You have to kill him. He may know too much."  
"Kill… him?" Naruto said with a shaky voice.  
"Understood." Sasuke said.  
Naruto looked at Sasuke. He behaved as a professional, following his orders, not asking unnecessary questions.  
Orders.  
"Understood" Naruto whispered.  
Orders had to be obeyed.  
Sasuke looked at Naruto, a bit worried. He doubted if Naruto really understood.  
"Good. Then I'd like you to leave as soon as possible. The longer the enemy has the scroll, the sooner it's power can be awakened."  
"Where'll we start searching?" Sasuke asked.  
"The borders of the Lighting country." Shizune suddenly said, causing all eyes to focus on her, "The last time the ninja was seen was in a village near the borders. He's probably on his way towards the great city Midoki."  
"Midoki?" Sasuke asked, "The city of gamblers and drunks?"  
Shizune coughed uneasy.  
"Yes, that city." Tsunade said.  
Naruto laughed but stopped when Tsunade looked at him with a dangerous look on her face.  
"We'll be on our way then." Sasuke said.  
"Wait." Shizune turned around and took a file from the piles. "You'll need this."  
Sasuke took the file and saw a map of the Lightning country and information about the thief.  
"Thanks. Let's go, Naruto."  
Sasuke and Naruto turned around to leave when Tsunade said:  
"Be careful, both of you."  
"No need for that." Naruto said, full of confidence, "I'm leading this mission so nothing can go wrong."  
Sasuke raised an eyebrow.  
"No way that you're leading this mission, Naruto. Then we're doomed before we leave Konoha."  
Tsunade and Shizune laughed.  
"I'm sorry, Naruto. But I kind of agree with Sasuke, he'll lead the mission."  
"What?!"  
"Let's go, Naruto." Sasuke said smiling, before Naruto could protest, "Listen to your team leader."  
Sasuke walked out of the room and Naruto followed, muttering under his breath.

"Did you pack enough clothes?"  
"Sasuke! Who are you? My mother?" Naruto said annoyed.  
"I don't recall giving birth to a child." Sasuke said while put a shirt in his bag.  
"… You…"  
"I…?"  
"… Never mind."  
Naruto sighed and checked his bag another time. Sasuke could be really annoying…  
"What about the tent?" Naruto asked.  
"I've got it here." Sasuke said, pointing at a green bag behind him.  
"Okay. Then I've got everything."  
Sasuke put a bottle of water in his bag and closed it.  
"We're ready to leave than."  
"Can we… Can we visit Sakura before we leave?" Naruto asked quietly.  
Sasuke looked at Naruto and smiled sadly.  
"Of course we can."

"Hi, Sakura. "  
Naruto kneeled down in front of Sakura's grave and put the beautiful pink flower that he bought in the small vase on the tombstone.  
"We're going to leave for a mission. I just… wanted to say goodbye. But, we'll be back soon. I'll visit you as soon as we come back."  
Sasuke stood quiet behind Naruto. He put his hand on Naruto's shoulder.  
Naruto looked up at Sasuke and smiled sadly.  
"We can go, I think."  
Sasuke shook his head and kneeled beside Naruto. He put a white rose in the vase with Naruto's pink flower.  
"Sakura…" Sasuke started, uneasy talking to someone he couldn't see anymore, "There's something I have to tell you."  
Naruto looked at Sasuke's serious face and wondered what he was going to say.  
"I'm in love with Naruto."  
Naruto stopped breathing for a second. He already knew it, but hearing Sasuke say this to Sakura…  
"And… I…" Naruto looked at the flowers and took a deep breath, "I love Sasuke. I hope you won't be angry Sakura…"  
"She won't be angry." Sasuke whispered, squeezing Naruto's shoulder. "She would've wanted us to move on."  
"I hope you're right." Naruto said, his hand on the tombstone.  
A Sakura petal fell on Naruto's hand, carried there by a warm breeze. Sasuke smiled.  
"Let's go, Naruto. I think that Sakura just wished us luck."  
Naruto took the Sakura petal in his hand and looked at it in surprise, then he carefully put it in his pocket.  
"Sakura will be with us during the mission." Naruto said, speaking more to himself than to Sasuke.  
"She will." Sasuke said, and he helped Naruto up.  
"I can get up myself you know…" Naruto said sighing.  
"I know." Sasuke said smiling, and he pulled Naruto close to hug him.  
"… Let's go." Naruto said, looking the other way to hide that he was blushing again.  
"Of course."  
"Bye, Sakura." Naruto said quietly, looking back at the tombstone.  
"We'll be back soon, when the mission is over."  
Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other and understood.  
They ran towards the gate of the village and left, on their way to the Lightning country.


	6. The warmth of a fire

**Hi readers! Do you agree that math sucks? Cause I hate it. A lot. I've got no idea how I'm going to survive my math exam at the end of the year… It's going to be hell. Well, whatever, save the worries for later. I'm so sorry for the late update btw T-T, I'm just so busy with school and music at the moment that I just forgot to write 0.o But I'm going to keep writing, whatever it takes.  
Hope you enjoy the new chapter!!!**

Lots of love, Tearsbehindthemask

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

"We're lost aren't we?"**  
**"Well…"  
Naruto looked at the map and turned it around nervously.  
"Eh…"  
"You read the map upside-down didn't you?" Sasuke said sighing.  
"No, I…"  
Sasuke looked at Naruto, his eyebrows raised.  
"Okay, I read it upside down."  
Sasuke held out his hand and Naruto gave Sasuke the map, looking ashamed.  
"From now on, I'll read the map." Sasuke said, studying it.  
"So… Where are we now?" Naruto asked carefully.  
Sasuke stayed quiet for a while and Naruto looked around at the trees that were all around them.  
"… I don't know exactly." Sasuke sighed, "We're probably close to the river country. But I don't know where we're exactly in this forest." and he pointed at a green spot on the map.  
"So… We have to go back?" Naruto asked.  
"Yeah, we have to go back, but it's no use to go now. It's already dark and we can't travel to far like this."  
"So we'll spend the night here?"  
"Yeah, that's probably the best option."  
"Then I'll take the tent out." Naruto said, trying to avoid eye contact with Sasuke.  
"Naruto." Sasuke said, taking Naruto's wrist as he turned away, "It's okay, we'll go on tomorrow. I don't care."  
"… Thanks…"

When Naruto was done with the tent, he sat down next to Sasuke who was preparing dinner.  
"What's for dinner?" Naruto asked carefully.  
"Soup." Sasuke answered, as he put some vegetables in the pan.  
"Okay."  
Naruto felt uncomfortable, was Sasuke angry at him?  
"I'm not angry." Sasuke said, as though he had read Naruto's thoughts.  
"What…?"  
"Naruto."  
Sasuke put his arm around Naruto and pulled him close to him.  
"I couldn't be angry at you. Well… Not for something like this."  
Naruto blushed and turned away.  
"Don't do that, Naruto." Sasuke whispered, taking Naruto's chin in his hand and turning his head back, "I love your blush, it's the cutest thing I've ever seen…"  
"Sasuke…! I'm not a girl, I told you…"  
"I don't care." Sasuke said smiling and he pulled Naruto close, brushing his lips against Naruto's.  
Naruto turned his head away but Sasuke stroked his cheek.  
"We're alone. It doesn't matter."  
"But, Sasuke…"  
"I love you."  
Sasuke tried to kiss Naruto again and at that moment, the soup started to boil.  
Naruto and Sasuke stared at the pan and Sasuke sighed.  
"We'll continue later…"Sasuke said teasing, and he turned away to finish the soup.  
Naruto took a deep breath and started to search in his bag for some bread. Sometimes he just didn't understand his own feelings. Yes, he accepted the fact that he was in love with Sasuke, but was it normal that he wanted to be touched by Sasuke? Every time Sasuke came close, Naruto felt his heartbeat speeding up and aching… He wanted to be touched, or maybe not. Naruto didn't understand it anymore.  
"I think that the soup is ready now…" Sasuke said, causing Naruto to turn his head so quickly that he strained his neck.  
Naruto rubbed his neck and Sasuke raised an eyebrow.  
"… My neck just hurts." Naruto said quickly.  
Sasuke shrugged and started to divide the soup into two bowls.  
Naruto took the bread out of his bag and took it to the fire.

The soup was delicious and Naruto and Sasuke ate everything.  
As the evening grew darker, it was getting cold.  
Naruto took a blanket out of his bag and wrapped himself in the blanket.  
"Are you cold?" Sasuke asked, even though the answer was too obvious.  
"Yeah, aren't you?"  
Sasuke shrugged. "A bit." Then he smiled, "I'll make a bigger fire."  
"Eh… Sasuke?" Naruto asked, but Sasuke already walked into the forest to gather wood.  
When Sasuke returned, he threw a bunch of branches and other pieces of wood on the ground.  
"Are you going to burn all of that?" Naruto asked, staring at the large pile of wood.  
"Well, I need it to start to fire." Sasuke said, with a strange smile on his face.  
"But… Sasuke… To start a fire, you only need small twigs, maybe some dry grass or something…"  
"Not, when I'm starting a fire." Sasuke said with a grin.  
Before Naruto realized what Sasuke was going to do, Sasuke folded his hands and yelled:  
"Katon! Gõkakyu no jutsu!"  
Naruto jumped aside with a scream when a big fire came out of Sasuke's mouth and set the pile of wood on fire.  
"Sasuke?! What the hell?!"  
Sasuke looked at Naruto as if nothing had happened.  
"What?" he asked with an innocent face, "At least this didn't take as much time as it would have when we did it the old-fashioned way."  
"Sasuke! You almost grilled me and set the whole forest on fire with it!"  
"Of course not. I don't think you would taste really good either. If I grill you that is."  
Naruto opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again.  
"At least it's not cold anymore." Sasuke said happily and he sat down close to the fire.  
Naruto hesitated for a moment and then sat down next to Sasuke.  
"Thanks." Naruto said.  
"Thanks for what?"  
"The fire."  
It was silent for a while, then Sasuke put his arm around Naruto.  
"Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to get lost."  
Naruto felt his heart beating fast, he could swear that Sasuke would hear his heart beating… He wanted to be touched. He didn't want to be touched… His feelings were so confusing…  
"Sa… Sasuke…?" Naruto asked with a trembling voice.  
"Yes?"  
"Will you… Will you please… Kiss me…?"  
Sasuke looked at the blonde boy and smiled.  
"Of course I will."  
Slowly, Sasuke moved closer towards Naruto. Naruto couldn't wait for the moment that Sasuke's lips would touch his. He wanted to feel the warmth, to feel the love…  
Sasuke's lips touched Naruto's and Sasuke's arms lowered from Naruto's shoulders towards his waist.  
Sasuke pulled Naruto closer and softly bit his lower lip. Naruto reacted and his lips parted. The kiss grew more passionate and Naruto felt so happy.  
It didn't matter that his feelings were so confusing, he could forget everything, drowning in this kiss, in the warmth of Sasuke's arm.  
Sasuke just wanted to hold Naruto, to kiss him, to touch him, to be with him. He knew that he didn't want anyone else. It could only be Naruto. There would never be, anyone else than Naruto…  
**  
**


	7. The fallen Sakura flower

**Hi readers! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Yes, I'm still alive, I didn't die while I was doing my homework (yet) and I didn't trip over a turtle and broke my neck. Sorry for this late post but I was really busy :( Hope you like the new chapter!  
Lots of love, Tearsbehindthemask**

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

Sasuke woke up in the middle of the night. He heard something.  
Immediately, Sasuke sat up to wake up Naruto.  
Then he saw that it was Naruto who made the noise.  
Naruto was turning around in his bed, muttering and moaning in his sleep. Sweat drops were on his forehead and he had kicked his blanket off him, it was lying at his feet causing Naruto to shiver from the cold.  
"Naruto…" Sasuke whispered.  
Careful not to wake him up, Sasuke tucked in Naruto.  
Sasuke looked at Naruto for a while and sighed. They didn't sleep together this night, their moment together by the fire had been so beautiful that Sasuke was afraid to spoil it. After a long night sitting by the fire, they had went to bed and after a goodnight kiss they had both gone to sleep.  
Naruto moaned again and concerned, Sasuke caressed the blonde's hair.  
"It's okay, Naruto…" he whispered.  
Naruto started muttering in his sleep again.  
"No… This can't be happening… Do something…"  
Sasuke was wondering what Naruto's nightmare was about. He kissed Naruto on his forehead and whispered sweet words in his ear, trying to calm him down.  
It looked like Naruto started sobbing and Sasuke stared at him. Naruto was still sleeping…  
Sasuke felt a knife of pain stabbing his heart, he couldn't look at Naruto while he was apparently in so much pain.  
Just when Sasuke wanted to wake Naruto up, Naruto whispered:  
"Sakura… No… Don't… Don't die… Please…"  
It felt like all the blood in Sasuke's body had been frozen. Naruto was having a nightmare about Sakura's death…  
Sasuke couldn't let Naruto sleep now… He had to wake him up from this nightmare…  
"Naruto…"  
Sasuke put his arms around Naruto and lifted him, pulled him close to his chest.  
"Naruto… You don't have to be afraid… I'm with you." Sasuke whispered with a smothered voice.  
"Sasuke…"  
Naruto opened his eyes and looked at Sasuke. Tears appeared in his blue eyes and he started to cry.  
"Naruto… Don't cry."  
Sasuke caressed Naruto's hair with one hand and with the other he held Naruto close.  
Naruto sobbed and Sasuke stared at the roof of their tent.  
Sakura… The last mission that she had been with them was already a while ago…  
Since that mission… Naruto and Sasuke hadn't been the same. They hadn't been the same after Sakura's death.  
"Sasuke… I… Sakura…"  
Naruto tried to talk but he couldn't. He just couldn't stop crying.  
"Naruto… It's okay now… It's… over…"  
Naruto buried his face in Sasuke's shirt and Sasuke just held Naruto. He didn't know what else to do.  
Sasuke remembered the days that he was crying too. The days after Sakura's death, the days that he was staring out of the window, not seeing anything. He had lived like a ghost. Naruto had probably done the same. And the nightmares… They were terrible.  
At first, the nightmares returned each night. These days, Sasuke was finally able to sleep without them, it had taken a long time for the nightmares to fade away.  
Apparently, Naruto was still having the nightmares. Sasuke understood the way he felt.  
"I just… Can't forget…" Naruto sobbed.  
"I understand…" Sasuke whispered. "I understand…"

It was a sunny day when team 7 had to visit Tsunade.  
"There is a new mission." the fifth Hokage had said, looking up from her work when Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura entered.  
"Finally!" Naruto said cheerfully, "We haven't been on a mission for like… Urm… "  
"A month." Sasuke added sighing.  
"Well, your new mission isn't going to be easy so you should be happy that you haven't been sent on another mission before this one.  
"Okay, okay, old lady. Just tell us about our mission."  
"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, "Don't talk to Tsunade-sama like that!"  
"Sorry, Sakura-chan…" Naruto said blushing.  
Sasuke sighed annoyed. "So? What's the mission?"  
Tsunade looked at the three, a bit irritated, and then looked at the paper in front of her again.  
"You'll deliver this scroll to the kazekage." Tsunade said, holding up a plain looking scroll that had been on her desk.  
There was a silence.  
"We have to… deliver this scroll in the hidden village of sand?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.  
"Yes." Tsunade replied.  
"So… What's the big deal?!" Naruto asked confused, "I mean… The country of wind is an allied country, and we've been there before… And… Gaara is like… important there, and we know him… So where is the danger in this mission??"  
Sakura didn't even try to calm Naruto down. She didn't see any problems in delivering the scroll either. Did Tsunade-sama underestimated them?  
Tsunade sighed.  
"There is a problem with this mission. I wouldn't bother you with a simple mission."  
"And the problem is?" Sasuke asked, hiding his curiosity behind a mask of indifference as always.  
"I assume that you know about rogue ninja's?"  
"Well… Yeah." Naruto said, "Who doesn't?"  
"Those rogue ninja's… Ninja's that roam around and do whatever they like… There's a large group of them on the move in the country of river."  
"So what does that have to do with us? We're going to the country of wind."  
"Naruto…" Sasuke said annoyed, "The country of river is between the country of fire and the country of wind. We have to cross it."  
"Oh… well…"  
"Naruto, just shut it." Sakura said. "Please, go on Tsunade-sama."  
"As I said," Tsunade said, looking at Naruto, "There's a group of rogue ninja's active in the country of river. And they're recruiting."  
"… What?" Naruto looked at Tsunade in confusion. He'd never heard about rogue ninja recruiting new members. They weren't active in large groups a lot either. It was strange.  
"We'll never join rogue ninja's." Sasuke said, spitting out the word rogue.  
"I'm not worried about that, Sasuke." Tsunade said quieter. "It's what happens if you run into their group and won't join them."  
There was a silence.  
"So what happens if you won't join them?" Naruto asked tensed, even though he could probably guess the answer.  
"You'll die." Tsunade whispered.  
Silence again.  
"So… we'll just have to… avoid these rogue ninja's? And make sure that we won't meet them on our journey?" Naruto asked, trying to sound optimistic.  
"Yeah, I suppose that summarizes the issue." Tsunade said shrugging.  
"So… when will we leave?" Sakura asked.  
"Now." Tsunade said, conjuring up a smile.  
"Yes! We're going on a mission!" Naruto yelled, all fired up. He wasn't really the type that was down for a long time.  
"We'll get our stuff and leave immediately." Sakura said, and with that, team seven left Tsunade's office.

The mission had been boring. Yeah, boring was the right word for it.  
There weren't any problems while delivering the scroll. They had given the scroll to the kazekage and there were no problems at all.  
Relaxed and bored, they had left the village of sand for their journey home.  
When they had almost crossed the border between the country of river and the country of fire, Sasuke had stopped running.  
"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Sakura asked.  
Sasuke looked around.  
"We're under attack." he said tense.  
Naruto looked around nervously.  
"How many of them?" Sakura asked.  
"… Four… Five maximum." Sasuke replied.  
"We can get them." Naruto said confident.  
"Naruto, don't be so certain. This could be the rogue ninja's that Tsunade-sama was talking about…" Sakura said, trying to hide her fear.  
"Sakura is right, Naruto. We have to be careful…" Sasuke said.  
At that moment, lots of shuriken came flying at the three.  
Sakura screamed and immediately, Naruto produced some shadow clones to shield them.  
Sasuke took some kunai with explosive tags from his pouch and threw them in the direction of the invisible attackers.  
"Now!" Sasuke yelled.  
At Sasuke's warning, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all started to run away when the explosive tags were activated.  
The explosions set the trees on fire and spread a painful heat.  
The three kept running, hoping to get rid of their attackers.  
"Are they gone?" Sakura asked when they had stopped running, a few minutes later.  
Sasuke looked around, his Sharingan activated.  
"I think they're…"  
"Here" A low voice said from behind them.  
Sasuke turned around just in time to see three shuriken flying in his direction.  
It only took him a second to take three shuriken from his own pouch to stop the shuriken.  
"Guys!" Sasuke yelled.  
"Sasuke!" Sakura screamed while she tried her best to fight off two ugly looking men who tried to catch her.  
Naruto was fighting with a guy that used a strange technique that created frightening figures out of dirt. He hadn't heard Sasuke because he was buried by two of these creatures at that moment.  
Sasuke looked around quickly and saw his own attacker hiding in a tree.  
"Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke yelled, and a huge fireball that appeared from his mouth was sent in the direction of the ninja in the tree.  
The ninja dodged the attack and disappeared.  
Sasuke had lost the ninja and ran in Sakura's direction to help her. Naruto would be able to defend himself, or at least he hoped so.  
"Fireba…"  
Sasuke wasn't able to complete his jutsu because he was sinking away in the ground.  
"Quicksand?!"  
Sasuke tried his best to get out of the quicksand but realized that he didn't see Naruto, Sakura or their attackers. This had to be genjutsu!  
Sasuke tried to think about a way to get out of this illusion. He was sinking deeper and deeper in the sand.  
There was no other choice. Sasuke took another shuriken from his pouch (which took a lot of effort because the sand had already reached his waist) and pushed one of the points in his leg.  
Sasuke clenched his teeth, it always hurts when a shuriken is sticking out of your flesh.  
Sasuke's surroundings seemed to fade and the genjutsu broke.  
He was panting when the genjutsu disappeared and pulled the shuriken out of his leg.  
"Pretty smart of the pretty boy to break out of my genjutsu."  
Before Sasuke could turn around he was pushed in the dirt, a kunai on his throat.  
"So you're all Konoha ninja, aren't you? Are you going to join us poor rogue ninja's? We could use people like you."  
The ninja turned Sasuke around and Sasuke saw that the ninja was a blonde woman.  
"Yeah. I'm a Konoha ninja. And no, we'll never, ever join you!" Sasuke said angry, while he was looking around to catch a glimpse of his teammates.  
Naruto was still fighting the dirt guy, it appeared that he was winning the fight, his opponent was bleeding heavily.  
Sakura had already defeated one of the ugly men and was now fighting the other one. Then she saw Sasuke, captured by the woman.  
"Sasuke!" she screamed, and she ran towards Sasuke.  
"No! Sakura!"  
Naruto punched his opponent in the face and he fell down unconscious.  
"Sakura, don't!"  
Sasuke tried to push the woman away but the kunai was pushed into his flesh and blood started to ooze from the cut.  
Then he noticed that the woman on top of him wasn't paying any attention to him and staring at a point somewhere behind him.  
"You're…"  
Sasuke realized. A clone.  
"Sakura watch out! It's a trap!"  
Sakura froze while she was running, her eyes blurred.  
"No! Sakura!"  
Sasuke took the kunai from his throat, not feeling the sharp weapon cut deep into his flesh, and pushed it into the woman's stomach. The clone disappeared with a cloud of smoke.  
What happened after that was blurred.  
Naruto was running towards Sakura and Sasuke was trying to get up when the blonde woman appeared behind Sakura. Sakura was caught in a genjutsu and didn't notice.  
"Sakura!"  
Sasuke and Naruto had both cried out her name at that same moment.  
"Too bad that you won't join us." The blonde woman whispered in Sakura's ear, with a look at Sasuke and Naruto. She knew they heard her.  
There was a glimpse of a weapon and Sakura fell down on the ground bleeding from a large cut in her throat.  
Sakura's eyes became clear for a few seconds as she stared at Sasuke and Naruto.  
"Sasu…ke… Na…ruto…" she whispered, and her eyes closed.  
Driven by rage and despair, Sasuke and Naruto blindly attacked the woman and killed her. The men that were left had fled into the forest.  
Covered in blood, both of the woman and their own, Sasuke and Naruto kneeled down besides Sakura.  
"Sakura… Are you all right?" Naruto whispered, knowing that it wasn't.  
He touched Sakura's cheek and tears started to run from his cheeks.  
"She's… gone…" Sasuke said quietly. He couldn't believe his own words.  
"It can't be." Naruto said, shaking his head in denial. "It can't be!"  
He collapsed and cried with his face on Sakura's chest.  
Sasuke tried to keep the tears away but he couldn't. He just couldn't.  
They were there, the two of them, in the forest, crying. They had lost their team mate, their friend, their love.

The way home was the hardest thing that Sasuke and Naruto had been through.  
Their own wounds were still bleeding, but they didn't pay any attention to it.  
They were carrying a fallen Sakura flower. The most beautiful that they had ever seen.

Sasuke felt tears prickling in his eyes again remembering everything. A lonely tear ran down his cheek.  
"Sasuke…?" Naruto looked at Sasuke with red eyes.  
"Sorry… I just…" Sasuke blinked to get rid of his tears.  
"Don't cry, Sasuke. Please…"  
Naruto caressed Sasuke's cheek and kissed his lips.  
"I don't want you to cry. I don't want to cry either. We have to live."  
Sasuke looked at Naruto, surprised that the blonde came up with this even though he was crying his eyes out a few seconds ago.  
"I know." he said, "We have to live. For our fallen Sakura flower. And because I love you."  
"I love you too…"  
Sasuke and Naruto embraced each other and stayed like that for a while longer.  
It had broken them. It brought them together. Their hearts didn't heal yet.  
Sakura's death had radically changed their lives.  
The fallen Sakura flower had announced the end of spring.


	8. The swamp

**Hi readers! I really hate myself for taking this much time to write a new chapter.. Again, I'm sorry, but I blame school! It kills creativity!! Okay… Ignore that.  
Sorry for killing Sakura like that in the last chapter, but I've been waiting to write that for a really long time now.. And finally, when I was writing it, I didn't know how to kill Sakura. And then it turned out this way.. Well, that was it for today. It's a small chapter this time… But I'll post the next one soon. Enjoy reading:)  
Lots of love, Tearsbehindthemask**

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO  


Sasuke and Naruto had been walking in silence for a few hours now.  
It's wasn't really an unpleasant silence, but it started to feel awkward now…  
"… Naruto?"  
"Yeah?"  
Sasuke didn't even know what he wanted to say, he just wanted to break the silence.  
"Eh… Nice weather isn't it?"  
Naruto stopped walking and stared at Sasuke in disbelief.  
"Are you asking me about the weather?"  
"Well… Yeah…" Sasuke said, feeling pretty stupid.  
"The weather is nice." Naruto said grinning. "Anything else? Would you like to know what I think about this beautiful environment?"  
Sasuke rolled his eyes and smiled.  
"Oh yeah, I really want to know what you think of the environment. But whatever your opinion is, I absolutely love it!"  
Sarcasm. One of the things that Sasuke was really good at.  
"I really love this place too," Naruto said, playing along, "I just think that some pretty flowers would've been great as a finishing touch."  
Naruto and Sasuke both laughed.  
The environment they were in was anything but pretty.  
They were in a swamp. It smelled bad, the water had an awful brown color and the trees and plants that surrounded them looked depressing with their dark and unhealthy colors.  
"How long have we been walking around in this gorgeous swamp?" Naruto asked, kicking against a dead tree in front of him.  
Sasuke sighed.  
"Eh… Four… Maybe five hours?"  
"I'm sick of it. Time to get out." Naruto grumbled.  
"I must say that I'd like to set foot on dry solid ground too… But I've got no idea how big this swamp actually is."  
"Wait a second…"  
Naruto ran towards the highest tree that he could find and climbed it.  
"Don't fall down!" Sasuke yelled, "I don't want to carry you around when you break a leg!"  
Naruto grinned and climbed further, higher and higher in the tree.  
From the top of the tree, Naruto had a great view of their surroundings. Behind him, Naruto could see the endless swamp they had crossed. In front of him, he could see where the swamp ended. It wouldn't take them long to get out.  
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.  
"What?!" Sasuke yelled back.  
"Come up here!"  
Sasuke stared at the tree, and Naruto, sitting on a branch high up.  
"I don't really feel like climbing this tree." Sasuke sighed.  
"Sasuke! Just climb! Or are you tired?"  
Naruto laughed and Sasuke snorted.  
"I'll be there in a second."  
"Yeah right." Naruto giggled.  
Sasuke smirked and concentrated his chakra, then he ran up the tree. Yes, he ran, using chakra to be able to run horizontally.  
A few seconds later, Sasuke was standing on a branch next to the one Naruto was sitting on.  
"It took you longer than one second." Naruto said smiling.  
"Whatever." Sasuke said, hiding his own smile.  
Sasuke and Naruto looked around in silence for a while.  
"So, why did I have to come up here?" Sasuke asked, breaking the silence.  
"We're almost out of the swamp." Naruto said, pointing at the place where the swamp faded.  
"And I had to see that myself?"  
"Nah, I just wanted you in the tree with me."  
Sasuke looked at Naruto and sighed.  
"You know, I'm not climbing trees for nothing."  
"Apparently you are." Naruto said smiling.  
Sasuke shook his head and climbed to the branch that Naruto was sitting on. He sat down next to the blonde and smirked.  
"At least I'm not leaving this tree without a kiss." he said.  
Naruto blushed and whispered: "You don't have to…"  
"Then kiss me." Sasuke said.  
"But… What? I…"  
"I won't always take initiative. Kiss me."  
Naruto felt like his face was on fire. What if he did something stupid?  
"I'm waiting." Sasuke said smiling.  
Naruto took a deep breath and gathered his courage. He carefully put his lips on Sasuke's smiling mouth.  
"I thought I'd had to wait forever." Sasuke grinned and he put his arms around Naruto and pulled him closer.  
"Careful! We're still in a tree!" Naruto protested.  
"If we fall, we'll fall together." Sasuke whispered and he silenced Naruto with a kiss that made Naruto's body tremble.  
"I guess I wouldn't mind falling together with you." Naruto said when Sasuke released him.  
"I'm already falling." Sasuke said, caressing Naruto's cheek.  
"… Why? You're sitting next to me… And I'm pretty sure that I'm not falling…"  
"I'm falling more and more in love with you." Sasuke whispered.  
Sasuke made Naruto blush again.  
"You're just saying that cause it's sounds like something from a romantic movie." Naruto muttered.  
"Well… I think I heard someone say it in a movie once…" Sasuke said, looking like he was thinking it over.  
"See…!" Naruto started, but Sasuke wouldn't let him finish.  
"But I said it because I mean it. I'm madly in love with you. You get that? I've never been in love like this before."  
"Not even with Sakura-chan?"  
There was a silence. Sakura was a painful subject to talk about. Even more after Sasuke discovered about Naruto's nightmares…  
"Naruto… You're the only one for me. I've never felt for Sakura what I feel for you now. I liked her. But I love you."  
"I believe you…" Naruto whispered, looking at the trees around them.  
"I'll never let you go." Sasuke said, cupping Naruto's face in his hands. "Never."  
"Is that something like a confession or a threat?" Naruto asked with a weak smile.  
"A bit of both." Sasuke said shrugging.  
"I guess that'll do." Naruto laughed. "Shall we get moving again? That scroll isn't going to bring itself back to the village. I wish it would."  
"Maybe it's time for a technique that gives scrolls little wings and legs to bring themselves back?" Sasuke said, rolling his eyes.  
"Yeah! That'd be great! We'd never have to worry about stolen scrolls again and…!"  
"Naruto." Sasuke interrupted Naruto, "I was joking."  
Naruto's bright red color came back again and he mumbled: "I knew that…"


	9. Shiroi

**OMG I'm so sorryyyy! It took me so long just to write another chapter? I'm sorry dear readers! Anyway, update: I graduated high school! (yay!) And I feel like I'm officially grown up now. I graduated, got myself a job (damn, work every day..) and I'm doing all of the household chores by myself now (more work than I thought with my parents on vacation). Anyway, I'm sorry that I didn't write for so long (I'm saying this again and again I know…) but I've been really busy and I've got some problems with my health lately. But I'm okay. Enjoy reading! (finally)**

Lots of love, Tearsbehindthemask

"Are you sure that's the village?" Naruto whispered to Sasuke, when he returned to their hiding place.  
"Positive." Sasuke answered.  
"But it looks like it's abandoned! There are no people in sight…"  
"Naruto, think love. You're a ninja. What is one of the most important ninja skills?"  
Naruto thought about it and tried to recall his lessons at the ninja academy.  
Sasuke wasn't so patient and he sighed. "Hiding, Naruto. Not being noticed by the enemy is a very important part of being a ninja.  
"I knew that." Naruto said protesting.  
"Of course you did." Sasuke said, rolling his eyes while smiling.  
"So we're just going to walk into that village? And… find some people that stole our scroll?" Naruto asked in disbelief.  
"That's the plan in short. Yes."  
"I thought that you were supposed to be the smart one that came up with great plans?"  
"I am." Sasuke smirked. "Now let's go. Oh, and take of your headband."  
"What?" Naruto asked in disbelief, "I won't go anywhere without my headband!"  
"Naruto!" Sasuke said firm. "Trust me." he added in a nicer tone.  
They both took off their headbands and stuffed them away in their bags after that.

Sasuke and Naruto got out of their hiding place and started to walk towards the village. The village was nothing more than a collection of small houses build from industrial looking building materials.  
Walking between the houses, Naruto felt really uncomfortable. There was no one in sight, but it felt like someone was watching them.  
"… Sasuke…"  
"I know." Sasuke interrupted. "They're watching us."  
There was a sound of a door opening and immediately alert, Sasuke and Naruto turned in the direction of the sound.  
A little boy with straight, white hair, wearing black overalls walked towards them.  
Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other, not sure what to do.  
"Greetings, strangers." the boy said, with a firm voice.  
"Well… Hi there." Naruto said after a while, uncomfortable with the silence.  
"Who are you, where are you from and what's your business here?" the boy then asked, apparently not paying a lot of attention to Naruto.  
"It would be polite if you told us your name first." Sasuke smirked.  
The boy stared at Sasuke and frowned.  
"My name is three-zero-six." he then said.  
"But… That's a number. That's not a name." Naruto said confused.  
"My name is three-zero-six." the boy repeated. "Now it would be polite if you answered my questions."  
Sasuke snorted. "You're a sharp kid aren't you?"  
The boy didn't react and kept staring at Sasuke.  
Sasuke sighed and decided that honest answers were probably the best.  
"I'm Sasuke and that's Naruto. We're travelling ninja's without a master to serve or a village to protect." Okay, maybe partially honest answers were better. "Someone told us that you kept a scroll with great power in your village, so we came to see it."  
The boy looked at them and then signaled that they needed to follow him.  
Naruto looked at Sasuke and Sasuke shrugged.  
Naruto knew the expression on Sasuke's face. It said: "Let's see what happens.", and so they followed the boy.

The three boys walked through the village for a little while and soon after they started walking, the boy stopped in front of a small concrete house  
"Enter here."  
Naruto stared at the door of the house. The door was made out of some kind of metal, and thin, almost invisible wires, ran through it.  
"What's with the door?" Naruto asked the boy, raising an eyebrow.  
"This place is protected of course." the boy answered, "We can't have everyone poking around here, don't we?"  
Naruto wanted to reply but Sasuke answered before him.  
"Of course not. Ninja secrets have to remain secret don't they?"  
The boy nodded and a peculiar little smile appeared on his face.  
Sasuke hesitated for a moment and then opened the door. Nothing happened.  
Sasuke and Naruto were looking into an empty room, the only thing in there was a metal stairwell that led to somewhere under the house.  
"Follow me." the boy said as he walked towards the stairwell immediately.  
Sasuke and Naruto couldn't do anything but follow the boy. They didn't have the slightest idea where this whole situation would take them.

Sasuke expected to be led into a basement or something like that, instead there was a long tunnel with walls that were plated with tarnished metal.  
"Where are we going?" Naruto asked after a minute of walking in silence.  
"Didn't you learn the importance of patience?" the boy answered without looking at Naruto or Sasuke.  
"I am patient…!" Naruto started. He abruptly stopped talking when he saw greenish light at the end of the tunnel.  
Naruto looked at Sasuke and Sasuke shrugged again.  
When the three guys reached the end of the tunnel, the boy walked further into the light while Naruto and Sasuke stood still and observed the huge space in front of them.  
The room really was huge, room wasn't actually the right word to describe the space. It was more like… a cave?  
Naruto shook his head when this thought came up. It wasn't a cave, not a natural one anyway. Again, the walls were plated with metal, a bit shinier plates than in the tunnel though.  
Sasuke searched for the source of the greenish light. Little light bulbs in cases made of green glass were on the cave's walls and ceiling.  
In the middle of the cave was some sort of platform, there was a man sitting on the platform pouring tea from a silver teapot.  
The man was wearing plain grey robes and with his long grey hair, it looked like he wasn't just sitting in the cave, it looked more like he was a part of the cave.

The boy walked towards the man on the platform and sat down on his knees next to him.  
The grey-haired man looked up and put down the silver teapot.  
"Welcome, wandering ninjas." the man said with a hypnotizing, low voice.  
Sasuke bowed and gestured Naruto to do the same. Which he did, a few seconds later.  
"Three-zero-six told me that you are here because you were told something about a certain scroll…"  
Sasuke bowed again and nodded.  
Naruto looked at the boy suspiciously. The boy hadn't said a word since he entered the cave. How could he have told the old man about their purpose here?  
"While we were travelling around the world, we have heard lots of stories about scrolls of great power." Sasuke started, walking towards the platform and kneeling on the mats in front of it.  
Meanwhile, Naruto was standing still, feeling really out of place. When Sasuke kneeled in front of the platform, Naruto hurried after him to do the same.  
"A few days ago," Sasuke continued, "We travelled past the village of Konoha."  
Sasuke looked at the grey-haired man intently to see if his expression changed when he mentioned Konoha.  
It didn't.  
The boy on his side didn't react either.  
"There were rumors about a stolen scroll, a very powerful scroll on top of that. We followed the rumors in the neighboring villages and ended up here. And we're most certain that you've got what we are looking for."  
"So how did you end up here? Did someone tell you that I was a thief and took the scroll from Konoha?"  
The grey-haired man stared at Sasuke suspiciously.  
Sasuke smiled and Naruto wondered how Sasuke could be so calm in situations like this. He felt his own heart pounding like crazy and hoped that no one would notice.  
"We did some research in Konoha and heard that you were the last person that was shown the scrolls of Konoha. I assumed that you would have taken the missing scroll and followed the rumors of where you were travelling. And here we are."  
"Indeed, here you both are. But it seems to me that you're the one doing all of the thinking. So why would you need another person with you to slow you down on your journey?"  
Naruto wanted to protest angrily but Sasuke patted Naruto on his head and smiled.  
"I think you can understand me when I say that sometimes one needs to order someone around. We can't be expected to do absolutely everything ourselves, can't we?"  
It was risky of Sasuke to use a phrase like this but after a moment of silence the grey-haired man smiled and patted the boy on his side on the shoulder.  
"Even great men get tired sometimes." the man said smiling and it was obvious that he wasn't so suspicious of Sasuke and Naruto anymore.  
"Well, now that this part of the conversation is over." the grey-haired man started with his crooked smile still on his face, "Would the two of you like some tea?"  
"That'd be delicious, thank you." Sasuke answered with a bow.  
The grey-haired man clapped his hands and in five seconds a kid that looked just like the boy sitting next to the man entered the room carrying a tray with a silver teapot and grey stone cups. The kid had the same white hair as three-zero –six but wore a simple black kimono with a silver obi instead of overalls.

"May I introduce you to two-one-eight." the grey-haired man said with a gesture at the kid in the kimono.  
The kid kneeled in front of Sasuke and put the tray in front of them. After that the kid elegantly bowed.  
"It is nice to meet you." the kid said, with a voice that didn't fit his appearance.  
Even though his voice wasn't manly at all, it betrayed the fact that the kid was indeed a boy just like his look-a-like three-zero-six.  
Stunned for a second, Naruto stared at the boy in the kimono in front of him.  
"Nice to meet you too." he then muttered. He didn't like things here. A boy being dressed up in a kimono and all…  
"You look very pretty two-one-eight." Sasuke said with a friendly smile when the boy poured tea in their cups.  
The boy looked up and his cheeks turned red. He bowed his head in thanks and then took the tray and left the room.  
The grey-haired man looked slightly amused sitting on his platform.  
"Oh, where are my manners?" the man then said after heaving a deep sigh, "I haven't introduced myself properly yet. My name is Shiroi. Nice to meet you."  
"Very nice to have met you indeed sir." Sasuke said, bowing his head.  
Naruto felt a bit confused. How could Sasuke act all humble like that and… weird? Where did his sarcastic remarks and haughtiness go?  
Sasuke and Naruto took their cups and drank their light, sweet tasting tea.  
Naruto tasted something familiar but couldn't remember what it was. He looked at Sasuke to ask but Sasuke was staring into his tea cup, apparently lost in thoughts.  
When Sasuke put down his tea cup and looked at Shiroi, the man put down his own tea-cup and folded his hands.  
"And now, back to the important business." Shiroi said.  
Sasuke nodded and Naruto put down his own tea cup to join the conversation.  
"So if I possess this scroll that you're talking about, what would you want with it?" Shiroi asked Sasuke.  
"We'd like to study the scroll if it's in your possession. We've never been allowed to see any of Konoha's scrolls and we've heard so many stories about the scroll that was… borrowed, that we really want to know more about it."  
Shiroi nodded.  
"I need to think this over for a while. For now, you can stay here as long as you like, a room has been prepared for the both of you."  
"That is very kind of you sir." Sasuke said and Naruto bowed his head to thank Shiroi.  
"It is not a problem." Shiroi said smiling. He clapped in his hands and two-one-eight appeared again.  
"Two-one-eight will take you to your room. I'll talk to you two tomorrow."  
"Thank you, sir." Sasuke said.  
Naruto and Sasuke stood up and walked towards two-one-eight who was standing in the opening of another tunnel, waiting for them.  
Naruto glanced over his shoulder to get a last look of Shiroi and then walked into the tunnel, Shiroi stroking the hair of three-zero-six.

**Well people, I hoped you enjoyed reading this chapter (yes I know: WHAT ABOUT SASUNARU!) but anyway :P I'm working on the next chapter as we speak and I'll make sure that there will be some more SasuNaru in that.:)  
By the way… This Shiroi guy turned out to sound like a really weird guy (just like Orochimaru or something) in this chapter. Sorry if I freaked you out, sometimes I write stuff and don't even know the intentions of my characters. **


	10. Room

**Hi readers! Again, I made you wait for a new chapter too long. I guess I really need an editor or something to keep bugging me until I write a new chapter. I'm a horrible person T-T And I kind of hate university **** Ah well, enjoy the new chapter:D (there's more SasuNaru in it! Finally!)  
Lots of love, Tearsbehindthemask**

Naruto sat down on one of the beds that stood in the plain room and sighed.  
"What the hell were you thinking?" he suddenly yelled annoyed.  
Sasuke looked up from unpacking his stuff in surprise.  
"What are you talking about?"  
"You! …And everything that's going on! You… About the need to order someone around…! How could you say something like that! I didn't know that you just saw me as a servant all this time!"  
"Naruto… You know that I lied for the sake of the mission, right?" Sasuke said softly.  
"I don't care! It just… You… I'm angry with you now!"  
Naruto lay down and turned his back towards Sasuke.  
A few seconds later the bed creaked and Naruto felt Sasuke's hand on his shoulder.  
"I didn't mean to hurt you by saying that. It was a lie, you know that." Sasuke squeezed Naruto's shoulder and then sighed. "If you don't believe that I was lying back there, you're an even bigger idiot then I suspected."  
Naruto turned around immediately, anger burned in his eyes.  
"Who are you calling an idi…?"  
Naruto's angry voice was silenced by Sasuke's lips. Naruto put his hands against Sasuke's chest and pushed. He should've known by now that he wasn't able to resist Sasuke and that it was no use trying to push him away. He came to that conclusion every time he tried to resist.  
Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto and pulled him closer.  
Naruto's heart was beating fast as he felt Sasuke's body, too close.  
"I think everyone will blame me when you get a heart-attack." Sasuke whispered smiling, his lips brushing Naruto's ear.  
Naruto blushed, feeling ashamed that his heartbeat gave his excitement away.  
"I won't get a heart-attack because of you. If you think I will you're the idiot." Naruto muttered.  
"Touché." Sasuke said smiling, looking in the gorgeous blue eyes of his love. "But your heart is racing so fast when I do this…"  
Sasuke kissed Naruto passionately and Naruto wouldn't be able to deny that his heart was beating a lot faster than a few seconds before the kiss.  
When their lips parted, Sasuke lay down and pulled Naruto down with him.  
Naruto snuggled closer to Sasuke and Sasuke caressed Naruto's golden hair.  
"Are you convinced that I was lying now, back then?" Sasuke chuckled. "Otherwise I have to move on to more drastic measures."  
Naruto laughed and touched Sasuke's cheek with his hand.  
"Though I'd really like to find out what your drastic measures are, I know that you were lying back then. I probably knew it all along. That you wouldn't say something like that."  
"Good." Sasuke said and he kissed Naruto's forehead.  
"I love you." Naruto whispered, not sure if he wanted Sasuke to hear or not.  
"I know." Sasuke chuckled, "Love you too."  
Naruto smiled and sat up. He took a look around in the room.  
The room was large and square, the walls were covered with metal plates but surprisingly there was white furry carpet on the floor causing Naruto to wonder if he was supposed to take his shoes off.  
There were two metal framed beds in the room, both large enough to be called a double bed. The bed sheets were, of course, white. On the opposite side of the room stood a large writing desk with a comfortable chair, that was all furniture that stood in the room.  
Next to the writing desk was a door that stood ajar.  
"What's behind that door?" Naruto asked Sasuke, confused.  
Sasuke snorted. "How am I supposed to know that? I haven't been here before either."  
Naruto freed himself from Sasuke's arms and curiously walked towards the door.  
When he pushed the door open, Naruto couldn't see anything. There was no lights in the other room.  
"Sasuke, I need a light." Naruto said grinning.  
Sasuke, who still lay on the bed, rolled his eyes and walked towards Naruto with a sigh.  
"You know I won't do this again, right? I do not possess jutsu to light rooms for you."  
"Yeah, I know." Naruto said, pretending to be annoyed. Then he grinned again and kissed Sasuke on his cheek. "I really appreciate it."  
Sasuke sighed, even though Naruto was joking it was just too cheesy.  
Gathering his chakra, Sasuke made a small fireball appear, just big enough to get an idea of what was in the room.  
Both Sasuke and Naruto gasped for breath when they saw what was in the other room.  
Apparently, the room was a bathroom. The room had everything that a traditional bathroom contained but the breathtaking part of this room was the huge circular bath in the center.  
Sasuke noticed a light switch and flipped it. The room was bathing in silver light, giving it a cold but even more breathtaking aura.  
"I am so going to take a bath tonight." Naruto said stunned.

Naruto was dozing off on one of the beds as Sasuke said in the comfortable chair, his feet on the writing desk.  
Why would this Shiroi guy steal a Konoha scroll? Sasuke wondered.  
Frustratingly, Sasuke didn't even know what technique the scroll contained so he didn't have a clue what the old man could do with it.  
There was a knock on the door.  
Sasuke looked up, a bit alarmed, but he regained his calm and called: "Come in."  
The door opened and kneeling in the door opening was two-one-eight, the boy in the kimono.  
"Well that's a surprise, two-one-eight! What brings you here?"  
Two-one-eight immediately turned red and shoved a tray with food forward.  
"I'm here to bring you your dinner and to ask you if the room is okay…" he said clearly but soft.  
"Thank you very much, I really appreciate it." Sasuke said with a friendly smile as he walked towards the boy to take the tray. "And the room is great, especially the bath."  
Two-one-eight, still bowing, bowed even deeper and replied: 'I'm glad that the room is to your liking. If you still need anything, just ask me."  
"Just one thing." Sasuke said quietly.  
"Anything, sir."  
Sasuke reached out to the boy and lifted his chin with his finger. "Could you stop bowing so much? It's not necessary."  
Two-one-eight looked at Sasuke in confusion. But I am supposed to bow, I have to…"  
"Not for me, okay?" Sasuke said friendly.  
The boy nodded and smiled.  
"I hope you'll enjoy your dinner. The master will talk to you again in the morning after you've rested."  
"Thank you, two-one-eight. Good night to you."  
Two-one-eight smiled sadly and nodded (since he was told not to bow anymore).  
"Good night, sir."  
Sasuke stared at the door as it closed and two-one-eight disappeared, he was disturbed in his thoughts when Naruto spoke.  
"What's with you and that kid?" he said a bit annoyed, maybe jealous, and a bit surprised.  
Sasuke chuckled as he saw Naruto's irritated expression.  
"What are you laughing about?" Naruto asked snorting. "I didn't know you had a thing for boys that dress up in kimono."  
Sasuke sighed and sat down next to Naruto. He put his arm around the blonde.  
"I do not have a thing for boys that dress up in kimono." Sasuke said smiling, "Though maybe it'd look great on you…" he added teasing.  
"Ha Ha, how funny is that."  
Naruto rolled his eyes.  
"No but to be serious," Sasuke continued seriously, "I pity that kid. He looked so sad and I'm asking myself why he's here with that old man."  
"The old man is a pervert, that's why." Naruto muttered through clenched teeth.  
"Maybe he is, but it doesn't explain why the boy didn't run away yet."  
Sasuke shook his head.  
"What food did the kid bring us?" Naruto asked after a long silence.  
Sasuke shrugged and brought Naruto the tray that was still on the floor.  
"Wow!" Naruto cried as he saw the food, "It looks delicious!"  
"Well, enjoy your meal." Sasuke said smiling as he gave Naruto a pair of chopsticks. "But I do want to take a bath with you when the food is gone."  
Naruto smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."


	11. The smell of flowers

**Hi readers!  
I'm sorry for the long wait again, things are just crazy around here.. There's a lot of drama going on in our family at the moment and in addition university is trying to kill me by teaching me phonetics, making me write too many essays and other annoying stuff. Can't wait for my Christmas break which starts this Friday! (even though I'll have to work, at least there are no lectures or anything!) Anyway, I got quite depressed because of everything and I wasn't in the mood to write. But finally, I've finished another chapter. And at last there's some yaoi!:D Victory!:D  
Enjoy reading and thanks for sticking with me!  
Lots of love, Tearsbehindthemask**

Naruto sat on the edge of the bath, his legs dangling in the warm water.  
The steam that spread from the bath made the room look foggy and mysterious together with the silver light in the bathroom.  
Naruto took a deep breath and enjoyed the flowery smell of the bath water. He closed his eyes and let himself slip further into the water. The bathwater warmed Naruto and made him forget all about his surroundings and his mission.  
"Enjoying the bath already, love?" A deep voice suddenly whispered in Naruto's ear.  
Naruto opened his eyes, quite shocked, and turned around to see Sasuke sitting next to him on the edge of the bath. He smiled when he saw Sasuke dressed in nothing but the usual towel that men wore in a public bath.  
"What took you so long to get here?" Naruto asked, as Sasuke sat down in the bath, next to Naruto.  
"I've been looking around…" Sasuke said, putting his arm around Naruto's shoulders.  
"Did you find out anything new about this place?" Naruto asked, snuggling up to Sasuke's chest.  
"Not really." Sasuke sighed disappointed, "It seems that we're in the guest wing, if you can call a part of a cave like that, so there's nothing around here but empty rooms. All except for one room which I suppose is the room in which the little boys with the number-names sleep."  
Naruto looked up with raised eyebrows.  
"How did you figure that out?"  
"There were lots of single beds in that room, all made up perfectly, and I saw clothes that looked exactly like the clothes that two-one-eight and the other boy wore."  
"Wow… so… there are more kids like them then…? That's a bit… sad actually." Naruto looked away and thought about the strange kids they had met. They weren't kids really. They acted like they were brainwashed…  
Sasuke sighed and stroked Naruto's hair.  
"I'm afraid there are more kids like them. And I know what you mean. I kind of pity those kids."  
"But why won't they try to run away?" Naruto asked quietly. He would've certainly tried to run away from this place if he was one of those kids.  
"I don't think they can." Sasuke answered cautious. "Maybe the reason why all these kids are acting in such a strange way has something to do with the stolen scroll…"  
"You think so?"  
"Maybe." Sasuke said, smiling because of the tone of Naruto's voice. "It would make everything a lot more simple."  
"Maybe it would..."  
There was a silence and Sasuke inhaled the flowery smell of the bath water.  
"It smells like Sakura..." Sasuke murmured.  
Naruto looked up and smiled sadly. "It does, right?"  
"Sakura just seems to follow us everywhere..."  
"She doesn't." Naruto said quietly. "We're still thinking about her. Apparently."  
Sasuke looked at the sad face of his lover and stroked his cheek.  
"I'm sorry I mentioned Sakura. This is supposed to be our time together."  
"It's not your fault." Naruto replied. "It's okay."  
"Just don't doubt this... You're the one that's on my mind... Always." Sasuke said, brushing Naruto's lips with his finger.  
"I was never in doubt about that." Naruto answered smiling. "It's really the same for me. I really... I really..."  
"You really...?" Sasuke asked smirking.  
"Oh, forget it! I'm not going to say it now." Naruto said annoyed.  
"Why not? Don't be such a wimp." Sasuke chuckled.  
"God, you have a talent for ruining a potential romantic moment!"  
"...You're actually using the word romantic?"  
"That's it! I'm out of here!" Naruto yelled frustrated.  
Naruto was busy climbing out of the bath when the towel around his waist let go.  
Immediately, Naruto tried to grab the towel and cover himself. For one short moment he forgot that he was climbing out of the bath at the same time.  
"Oh Damn...!"  
Naruto slipped and closed his eyes to prepare for the impact with either water or stone.  
Just when Naruto felt the water beneath him, two arms caught him in his fall.  
Naruto opened his eyes and saw Sasuke's grin right above his own face.  
"I thought you were leaving?" Sasuke asked teasing.  
"I am!" Naruto hissed angry, and he tried to free himself from Sasuke's strong arms.  
"I'm sorry love but I won't let go of you now."  
"Why not?"  
Sasuke laughed.  
"Now that I've seen that,"  
Sasuke's eyes strayed down from Naruto's face to his, no longer covered by a towel, body;  
"I know I'll have a lot more fun if I'll keep you around than I'll have if I'm all alone."  
Naruto's face flushed red and he immediately started to look around for his towel.  
"It's over here." Sasuke said, still holding Naruto with one arm and picking up Naruto's towel from the water.  
Naruto immediately covered himself and muttered: "Bastard."  
Sasuke was still smiling and he put Naruto down on the edge of the bath.  
"You're cute when you're angry." he said, looking up to Naruto.  
Naruto looked down on Sasuke and couldn't help noticing how handsome Sasuke looked, water dripping from his raven black hair and glittering drops of water on his pale skin.  
"What are you thinking about?" Sasuke asked as Naruto's facial expression changed, "I have to say that I quite like that expression..."  
"...Nothing..." Naruto muttered quietly.  
"You can't lie to me, love."  
Sasuke took Naruto's leg and placed a kiss on his shin. Slowly his kisses moved upwards.  
"Sasuke...! What are you...!" Naruto protested breathless.  
"What were you thinking about?" Sasuke said, looking up with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.  
"I... It..."  
Sasuke kissed Naruto's inner thigh just below his towel and Naruto flinched.  
"Okay, okay! I was thinking about you!" Naruto said defensively.  
"Why are you so panicked?" Sasuke chuckled, "Don't you like it when I kiss you?"  
"...Yes! ...No! I..."  
"So what exactly were you thinking about me?" Sasuke asked teasing. "Were you imagining what we could be doing, right now?"  
"No! Sasuke! What's with you today?"  
"I'm still waiting for your answer." Sasuke said, as his lips brushed the soft skin of Naruto's thigh again.  
"Okay, okay! I give up! I was thinking about... about... how handsome you just looked..." Naruto said, totally embarrassed.  
Sasuke laughed and put his arms around Naruto's waist. "So, I look handsome from up there. Maybe it's the point of view, I guess it's not so common for you, seeing me from a top perspective..."  
"Sasuke! ... Really, you're annoying today...!" Naruto turned away in embarrassment and Sasuke just smiled.  
Sasuke looked at his blond lover; his hair all messy, his whisker scars even more clear on his bright red face and the seal on his abdomen gleaming because of the water.  
"For your information, you look absolutely gorgeous, Naruto." Sasuke whispered.  
"Liar." Naruto mumbled.  
Sasuke pulled Naruto back into the water and carefully pushed him against the edge of the bath.  
"I never lie. At least, not to you."  
Sasuke's lips covered Naruto's and without hesitation, Naruto gave Sasuke his way.  
"You're easy today, Naruto." Sasuke whispered smirking.  
"And you're a pervert." Naruto replied.  
"Indeed I am." Sasuke said smiling, and he pressed his lips on Naruto's again.  
Sasuke's hands strayed from Naruto's waist to the towel that covered him. A soundless protest by Naruto was ignored and in a second Sasuke had removed Naruto's towel.  
Sasuke first caressed Naruto's lower back and discovered to his pleasure that he found one of Naruto's sensitive spots.  
Naruto's hands were on Sasuke's back as Sasuke's fingers wandered down to his buttocks.  
"Sasuke... What..." Naruto muttered in a mix of fear and excitement.  
"No talking tonight, love." Sasuke said with a grin, "Didn't you say I was a pervert? Well, tonight this pervert is going to have some fun. Together with his easy fox."  
Sasuke then backed off and added in a more friendly tone: "Is that okay with you?"  
Naruto turned away face with bright red cheeks and nodded.  
"No need to be embarrassed, Naruto. We'll make love surrounded by the smell of flowers tonight."


	12. Secret of the Scroll

**Hi readers! I'm so ashamed of my long absence, but finally, I finished writing a new chapter. I've been really busy lately and writing fanfiction disappeared from my schedule. I hope that from now on I'll be writing new chapters more often. Here's a short, new chapter, just to let you know I'm still alive. I'll post the next chapter soon. I promise =)  
Lots of love, Tearsbehindthemask**

"Oi, wake up, love."  
Naruto opened his eyes as he heard Sasuke's voice whispering in his ear.  
"Oh, damnit…" Naruto muttered.  
"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sasuke asked smiling, lying in bed besides Naruto and stroking his blond locks.  
"Everything… hurts." Naruto grumbled. "God…"  
Sasuke laughed, more exuberant than he usually did, and then gave Naruto a look filled with compassion.  
"I'm sorry, love. It'll be better next time."  
"How do you know?" Naruto asked suspicious, hiding his face in a pillow.  
"Well… Actually I don't know. I mean, I've never been in your position…" Sasuke grinned.  
"Oh, just shut up…"  
Sasuke smiled and stood up to gather Naruto's clothes.  
"You'd better get dressed." Sasuke said, throwing the clothes at Naruto. "It's time to expose that old man and get our scroll back."  
Naruto sat up and sighed, annoyed.  
"Unless you want to go again, of course." Sasuke then added smirking.  
Naruto's cheeks flushed and he turned his face away.  
"I'll get dressed now."  
Sasuke walked towards Naruto and kissed him on the cheek.  
"You're just too cute."  
"Don't…!"  
Sasuke winked and walked towards the bathroom. "You should get dressed now. I don't know if Shiroi will appreciate us staying in bed for so long."

After Naruto got dressed, two-one-eight knocked on the door and appeared with a tray of breakfast.  
"Excuse me for disturbing you," he said, bowing. "I was sent to inform you that the master wants to speak with you."  
Sasuke bowed his head and smiled.  
"Thank you, two-one-eight. We will go and see the master after breakfast."  
Two-one-eight blushed and handed the tray to Sasuke. "I will pass that message on to the master."  
The white-haired boy bowed and left the room, closing the door again.  
"That boy seems to like you… A lot…" Naruto said in a tone of annoyance.  
Sasuke snorted. "You're not jealous, aren't you?"  
"No." Naruto replied, way too fast.  
Sasuke decided he wouldn't go on about this and put down the tray on the bed.  
Naruto sat down next to it and Sasuke sat down on the other side of the tray.  
"So… what exactly is this?" Naruto then asked, staring at the bowls on the tray.  
Sasuke looked at the bowls and shrugged. "I'm certain that two of them are cups of tea, the other two look like… porridge or something."  
"Just great." Naruto complained. "This is probably the best morning after breakfast ever."  
Sasuke chuckled and ruffled Naruto's hair.  
"We'll be gone soon, love, I promise. And I'll make you some great breakfast when we get back home."  
"You better." Naruto sighed, and he took a bowl of porridge.

After Sasuke and Naruto had finished breakfast, they went out to see the master. Almost immediately after they'd left the room, two-one-eight appeared in front of them. Naruto gasped and Sasuke chuckled.  
"I'll bring you to the master." two-one-eight muttered after apologizing extensively for scaring Naruto.

Two-one-eight lead Sasuke and Naruto to a new chamber where Shiroi was waiting for them.  
The chamber differed greatly from the ones they had seen up until now, if Naruto was asked to describe it, he'd say it was like a combination of a laboratory and a library.  
One side of the room was furnished with nothing but large, steel bookcases which caused one of the walls to disappear completely; besides the bookcases there were large tables filled with complex looking scientific equipment. Naruto wondered what Shiroi used all of these things for.  
Shiroi was sitting on a large, grey pillow in the farthest corner of the room where some space was left open to provide room for a low table and some pillows. Sasuke and Naruto bowed as a greeting and Shiroi nodded. He gestured that two-one-eight should leave and that the other two should sit down.  
As soon as to-one-eight had left the room, Shiroi poured some tea out of a teapot that was standing on the low table.  
Apparently he is able to do it himself as well. Naruto thought annoyed. What does he need the numbered boys for?  
"Sit down, sit down." Shiroi said to Sasuke and as he looked at Naruto he pointed to the other pillow.  
Naruto felt angry and wanted to protest but Sasuke took his arm, firm but gently, and gestured Naruto to sit down.  
Sasuke and Naruto sat down on the opposite side of the table and Shiroi sighed.  
"You should feel honoured that you're allowed to enter this room."  
"I realise that, master." Sasuke said, bowing his head.  
Naruto bowed his head as well but rolled his eyes. Seeing Sasuke behaving so submissive annoyed him greatly.  
Shiroi hummed contently and took a sip of tea.  
"When you arrived here, you said you were looking for a missing scroll." he said, after he had put down his cup.  
"We indeed are." Sasuke said, "Are you saying that you know more about this scroll?"  
Shiroi smiled. "You're a clever one. I appreciate that."  
He paused for a second. "The scroll you're looking for, do you know anything about its use or purpose?"  
Sasuke shook his head. "Unfortunately we could not gather any more information about the scroll. We just heard stories about its amazing power."  
Shiroi nodded and stood up.  
Naruto followed Shiroi with his eyes and was surprised when he walked towards the bookcases. Was he really keeping such an important scroll in a bookcase?  
Shiroi reached into one of the bookcases and took an extremely old-looking book out. He stepped back as a mechanic sound filled the room.  
Sasuke and Naruto stood up, alarmed by the sound, and took out their kunai.  
"No need to worry." Shiroi said, chuckling. "I'll show you the scroll."  
Naruto stared at the bookcases as they shoved aside and revealed the entrance to another room.  
"… Nice door." Sasuke mumbled, impressed and amused.  
"Welcome, to my laboratory." Shiroi said smiling, as he walked into the hidden room.  
"I thought we were already sitting in your laboratory." Naruto muttered confused.  
"And that is where you were wrong, boy."  
Sasuke and Naruto followed Shiroi into his laboratory and gaped at the equipment in the room.  
Huge devices, looking like oversized fish tanks, took up one side of the room. Things were drifting around in these tanks. Things that looked like…  
Naruto approached one of the tanks and jumped back as he saw what was in the tank.  
There was a boy drifting in the tank. A boy that looked just like the other numbered boys...  
"What the hell is this?" Naruto asked, shocked.  
"This, dear ninjas, is my life work." Shiroi said proud, turning towards Naruto and Sasuke.  
"Clones?" Sasuke asked suspiciously, "What does any of this have to with the scroll?"  
"These clones are my life work." Shiroi explained, "I developed a jutsu that allows me to manipulate life and you can see the result here. My beautiful children. The scroll, is just a practical supplement."  
"So what's the use of the scroll?" Naruto asked confused.  
"The scroll allows its user to influence the mind of other people." Shiroi said simply.  
Sasuke and Naruto stared at Shiroi.  
"In other words: my clones are useful, obedient clones however, are perfect."


	13. Demonstration

**Hi readers, thanks for still reading this new chapter after this long silence (yet again)… I'm ashamed to call myself a writer:x So, I've been doing… great lately? No, there's a lot of shit going on here and it just functions as a permanent writer's block. In addition I haven't been able to watch the new episodes of Naruto Shippuden for about two months because of the horribly slow and dysfunctional internet around here (which makes me really sad =( ). But anyway, A NEW CHAPTER! *dances around the room* And to make the event of me finally posting a new chapter even more special… There are TWO NEW CHAPTERS =D *cheers*(okay, chapter 14 is a short one but hey, I'm writing again.)  
The story is almost finished now, please stay with me for a little longer to read the conclusion to 'At the end of spring'. =)  
Enjoy reading!**

**Tearsbehindthemask**  
**(I'm using way too much space to write these messages up here…)**

Naruto could not believe what he'd just heard. A scroll that could influence the mind…  
So, they were after some sort of brainwashing scroll? Wasn't this thing called the 'scroll of the dragon'? What the hell did brainwashing have to do with a dragon? And why weren't the Uchiha able to control this power while Shiroi apparently was?  
Naruto secretly looked at Sasuke and saw him staring at one of Shiroi's clones.  
"So… What do you want to accomplish by creating all of these obedient clones?" Sasuke then asked, turning his gaze towards Shiroi.  
Shiroi smiled. "I've got no dreams of world domination or anything like that, if you think so. I'm an old man, I've lived for many years thanks to several forbidden jutsu and it took me all of these years to finish my research. Since I can't use the jutsu to prolong my life anymore, the only thing I want to accomplish now is to spend my remaining days in ease."  
"And you need clones and a scroll for mind control for that?" Naruto asked in disbelief.  
Shiroi snorted. "My children are the result of my lifework; I wanted to proof that it was possible, if not to others than just to myself. I like to be surrounded by pure things."  
"And a brainwashed clone is pure?" Naruto yelled angrily.  
"Naruto!" Sasuke hissed, and he grabbed Naruto's wrist. "You're not allowed to speak to the master in that way."  
Although Naruto knew that Sasuke just pretended to be angry about his outburst, it hurted him to see the expression on Sasuke's face.  
"I'm sorry…" Naruto muttered, and he bowed to Shiroi.  
Shiroi nodded, haughtily looking down on Naruto.  
"For your information, my children are indeed pure." he whispered. "They have not been corrupted by the outside world, they will never rebel against me… and they'll stay beautiful at all times. My children do not age."  
"Is that due to the effect of your cloning jutsu or the effect of the dragon scroll?"  
"I'm afraid I can't claim that it is due to my own inventiveness that my children do not age." Shiroi admitted reluctantly. "Controlling the mind apparently influences the process of aging. I believe it disturbs processes in the brain which influence the aging process."  
"So... you're not exactly sure why your clones don't get any older?" Naruto asked, chuckling quietly.  
Shiroi gave Naruto an ice cold look. "I don't like your attitude, boy." he hissed. "But no, I'm not sure."  
Sasuke bowed. "None of us know all answers."  
Shiroi smiled. "Since I am old, sooner or later I had to find someone to pass on my knowledge anyway… I think that you may be that someone…"  
Sasuke bowed again and Naruto automatically followed.  
"I feel honoured, master." Sasuke muttered, quite convincingly.  
Shiroi stood up and walked towards one of the bookshelves. He picked up one of the heaviest looking leather volumes from the shelf and held it out to Sasuke.  
Sasuke stared at the book and raised his eyebrows.  
"I thought you were going to show us the scroll." Naruto mumbled quietly, a bit disappointed.  
Shiroi smiled.  
"Surely, you did not think that I would just leave the dragon scroll lying around in my laboratory somewhere, boy?"  
Shiroi opened the book and to both boys' surprise, the book cover had been hiding some kind of complicated-looking mini vault.

"What the…" Naruto muttered in awe.  
Shiroi fidgeted on the lock for a bit and with a metallic 'click' the vault opened and a small scroll with a red seal was revealed.  
"It looks so plain…" Sasuke said, not able to hide his surprise.  
"Do not let the ordinary look of this scroll fool you;" Shiroi said, looking amused; "it is about the technique that this little scroll hides."  
Shiroi walked towards a desk that was not covered in research materials and removed the red Uchiha seal from the scroll.  
"Behold, young ninja…" Shiroi said in a dramatic tone, "The dragon scroll."  
The unfolded scroll revealed a detailed drawing of a Chinese dragon and several words in calligraphy around it.  
Sasuke looked at the scroll, feeling honoured to be able to see this powerful Uchiha scroll for real.  
While Sasuke was looking at the scroll in awe, Naruto just stared at it. He didn't know what he had expected, but a scroll that looked just as dull as any other wasn't exactly meeting up to his expectations.  
"So… What do you do with it?" Naruto asked, raising his eyebrows.  
Irritation radiated from Shiroi's entire being.  
"Why is it that you are always in a hurry, boy?" the old man yelled angrily. "Be patient!"  
Naruto immediately bowed to apologise and Shiroi took a deep breath to regain his composure.  
"So how does this technique work… master?" Sasuke asked, to distract Shiroi from his anger.  
Shiroi's expression turned calm again in a matter of seconds.  
"It took me a while to figure that one out, young ninja."  
There was a hint of excitement on his old face.  
"I believe that I am the first to figure out just how this technique works ever since the Uchiha clan hid this scroll from the world."  
With good reason. Sasuke thought, repressing the urge to roll his eyes. Well… most likely.  
Sasuke still had no idea why his clan had developed a jutsu for mind control. Luckily, the answer to this question was not of importance right now.  
"That is quite an achievement… sir." Naruto muttered, complimenting Shiroi, trying to make up for his earlier mistakes.  
"It is, I'm glad you do notice _that_."  
The corner of Shiroi's mouth twitched into something like an involuntary smile. It was clear that the man enjoyed being complemented. A treat that was in Sasuke and Naruto's advantage.  
"Now, young ninja, I will explain to you the jutsu of the dragon scroll."  
Sasuke and Naruto glanced at each other, nervous but excited.  
"However, to demonstrate this technique, I need a volunteer…" Shiroi than muttered.  
Naruto froze as he heard Shiroi uttering those words. He knew what would happen now…  
Shiroi turned around to face Naruto with a sinister smile. Naruto looked back without hesitation.  
"It seems to me… That you might play this part perfectly."  
Naruto saw Sasuke looking at him, not able to hide his worry behind his cool expression.  
"It seems like that's the case… sir." Naruto muttered, realising that this might be the only chance of figuring out how he and Sasuke could lift Shiroi's jutsu from the boys in the hide-out.  
Naruto gave Sasuke a meaningful look and nodded.  
Sasuke closed his eyes for a brief moment and conjured up a smile.  
"Well then, Shiroi, show me your amazing jutsu."

Naruto was lying on a cold, aluminium table in the middle of a large, square room.  
The floor around the table was carved with mysterious symbols and several candles formed a circle around the table.  
Cold spread through Naruto's body as he heard Shiroi forming seals and muttering unintelligible words. Naruto felt nervous, listening to Shiroi so he focused on Sasuke. The sound of his controlled breathing. His nervous, irregular heartbeat…  
Naruto gasped for breath as he suddenly felt the cold in his body freeze his limbs and cloud his thoughts.  
"What's happening?" Sasuke asked, trying to sound as cool as possible.  
"The jutsu…" Shiroi whispered, as he cut his hand with a scalpel and let a few drops of blood fall on the dragon scroll in front of him, "is complete…"  
Naruto felt that he had lost control of his own body. His mind and his will were clouded by an unknown force, too strong to fight. It felt like he was trying to see through thick fog.  
"Sa… suke…"  
It was the last thing Naruto whispered before Shiroi took over control.


	14. With and without you

**Enjoy reading! =D**

Sasuke felt helpless not being able to protect his love from Shiroi's jutsu.  
Naruto's face wore an expression of pain as Shiroi took control of his body and mind; more than anything, Sasuke just wanted to hold and protect the blonde.  
"Would you like a little demonstration?" Shiroi asked Sasuke; he looked awfully happy with himself seeing the slightly frightened and worried expression on Sasuke's face.  
"… Yes. Of course." Sasuke managed a smile, trying to play his part as convincing as possible.  
He couldn't let Naruto down now. For his sake, for the sake of releasing Naruto from Shiroi's influence, he had to be convincing.  
"What would you want the boy to do?" Shiroi asked with a peculiar smile.  
Shiroi's smile made Sasuke felt uncomfortable and he shrugged.  
"I don't know."  
"How unoriginal. I'd expected more from you."  
Shiroi sighed dramatically. "Let's just start with walking than."  
Shiroi closed his eyes for a moment and suddenly, Naruto sat up on the table.  
A shiver ran down Sasuke's spine as Naruto opened his eyes and looked at him.  
No. Naruto wasn't looking at him. It was like he couldn't see anything at all.  
"Can he… see us?" Sasuke whispered.  
"I think he can." Shiroi said smiling. "Without an order to see us and react to that he will never show it, though."  
Sasuke swallowed as Naruto walked towards him and stood still very close to him, looking into his eyes.  
"Sasuke." Naruto whispered. "Sasuke…"  
Sasuke clenched his fists and looked at Shiroi in confusion.  
"The dragon scroll can make him say anything… make him do anything. Anything you've ever wanted."  
Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck and Sasuke gulped as Naruto pushed his body against his.  
"What are you doing, master?" Sasuke asked, nothing but annoyance in his voice.  
"I thought you'd like your toy to be perfectly obedient for once." Shiroi said with an evil smile.  
"Don't joke around. He's not my toy." Sasuke said, gently pushing Naruto away from him.  
"If you say so, young ninja."  
Shiroi looked at a candle that stood lonely on a table and nodded.  
"It's already late." he commented. "I'll retreat for now and teach you more about the jutsu tomorrow."  
"… And what about Naruto?" Sasuke asked, sounding indifferent again.  
"He'll sleep in the servant's quarters with the rest of my clones." Shiroi said. "Unless you want him to sleep in your room of course…"  
Sasuke wanted to respond curtly to shut the old man up but then answered:  
"Yeah, I'd like that very much."  
For a moment, Shiroi seemed surprised, but after he'd recovered he smiled.  
"He'll be a good boy tonight." he said closing his eyes for a moment. "I will see you in my lab in the morning."  
Sasuke bowed and Shiroi walked away, leaving Sasuke with an uncharacteristically quiet Naruto.  
"Naruto. Are you okay, Naruto?" Sasuke whispered, looking at the blonde intently to see if he showed any signs of recognition.  
Naruto blinked his eyes but didn't seem to do this consciously.  
Sasuke sighed as one of Shiroi's clones walked into the room and bowed to him.  
"Shall I escort you both to your room?" he asked politely.  
"Yes, that'd be fine. Thank you."  
Sasuke followed the clone but looked back as he noticed that Naruto wasn't following him.  
"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sasuke asked, smiling bitterly. "Come with me."  
Sasuke took Naruto's hand and Naruto followed him obediently. His hand is cold, Sasuke thought. I like him better when he's warm and annoying.

Back in their room, Sasuke and Naruto shared a meal that two-one-eight brought them.  
Of course, Sasuke had to tell Naruto to eat before he took a bite. This was so unlike the real Naruto…  
Sasuke wondered what orders Shiroi had given Naruto. For what he'd seen, most of Shiroi's clones had a touch of personality or free will. Two-one-eight always blushed in Sasuke's presence for example… He hadn't seen Naruto show anything like this at all.  
"Say… Naruto…" Sasuke muttered.  
"Yes?" Naruto asked, ignoring his chopsticks immediately and intently staring at Sasuke.  
"I… Well… Can you tell me what orders master Shiroi gave you?"  
Naruto nodded and dutifully declared:  
"Master Shiroi told me to obey every command master Sasuke gives me and above all to be a good boy."  
Sasuke pulled Naruto close and hugged him.  
"Can you tell me what you feel?"  
"I feel content. I feel love for my masters."  
Sasuke pushed Naruto away from him as he said 'masters' and looked at his blonde, feeling a bit nauseous.  
"Naruto… If the real you can hear me… I'm sorry for putting you through this. I'll find a way to free you from this jutsu."  
Naruto blinked his eyes and looked at Sasuke in confusion. "Master, what do you mean?"  
"It's nothing to worry about." Sasuke said, smiling sadly. "Come on, we'll take a bath."  
Naruto bowed his head and took Sasuke's hand. "Follow me, master."

Naruto prepared the bath as Sasuke undressed.  
"Master… What would you want me to do?"  
Sasuke turned around and saw Naruto standing naked besides the bathtub, he couldn't help but feel some excitement in his groin as he admired his lover's body.  
But this wasn't Naruto. Not really.  
"Let's just bathe."

Naruto was leaning his head against Sasuke's shoulder and Sasuke couldn't help but feel melancholic, sitting in the bathtub with and without his lover.  
"We need some bubbles." Sasuke sighed as he poured some of the Sakura bath foam into the water.  
Absentmindedly Sasuke stared at Naruto and realised that the blonde was trembling.  
"What is it, Naruto?" Sasuke asked worriedly.  
"I… I know this smell… Sakura…"  
A tear ran down Naruto's cheek as Sasuke embraced him.  
"I know you're in there somewhere, love. I'll release you from this jutsu as soon as possible…"


	15. Blood is the colour of love

**Hi everyone! Yes, I'm back from the dead it seems:p I just found out that the only thing I needed to get cracking again was coffee and hazelnut liquor :O (oh, and don't forget motivation and inspiration!) This afternoon I got such a sweet message from a reader telling me how much she liked my stories that I literally started crying and felt the urge to write again. Thank you so much for that message and thank you for everyone that reviews, favourites or reads my stories: you're the best and I love you.  
Enjoy reading!**

**Lots of love, Tearsbehindthemask**

Sasuke couldn't sleep that night. Hour after hour he tried to figure out how he could free Naruto from Shiroi's jutsu.  
Naruto was sleeping soundlessly besides him, an angelic look on his face. Sasuke sighed as he brushed a strand of blonde hair out of Naruto's face.  
"I can't come up with anything else besides destroying the scroll to free you and break the contract … This jutsu should be similar to a summoning jutsu, so I guess breaking the contract is the only solution to this mess." Sasuke muttered to himself.  
Naruto stirred and opened his eyes. "Is there a problem, master?" he asked worriedly.  
"Good morning, love." Sasuke whispered, avoiding the question. "Did you sleep well?"  
"Of course." Naruto nodded. "Because master was with me."  
Sasuke thought about how he wanted to get the old Naruto back as soon as possible but smiled anyway. This obedient boy was nothing like the stubborn blonde he fell in love with.  
"I'm glad you had a good night." he muttered. "Now, let's go and see Shiroi. I guess he'll be in his lab by now."

As Sasuke'd expected, Shiroi was already waiting in his lab.  
"Good morning, master."  
"Good morning, young ninja." Shiroi said, clearly in a good mood. "Come on in, hurry up."  
"You seem to be in a good mood, master." Sasuke said, smiling carefully.  
"Do I? Ah, that might be true, boy. Today, I am going to teach you all that I know about the dragon scroll; at the end of the day you might even try the secret jutsu yourself!"  
"Thank you, master! I feel so honoured that you chose me…"  
Sasuke bowed and literally felt hope flowing through his body. It was as if the blood in his veins had become boiling hot, but it wasn't an unpleasant feeling. It felt like finally, he could do something to get himself and Naruto out of here. To save those children. To get rid of Shiroi.  
"You, boy!"  
Shiroi beckoned Naruto to come closer and naturally, Naruto obeyed.  
Sasuke clenched his fists as Shiroi caressed Naruto's cheek and stared at his face intently.  
"This is a strong one." Shiroi muttered, his expression showing frustration.  
Out of nothing, Shiroi raised his hand and slapped Naruto's face. A drop of blood welled up from Naruto's lip and Sasuke lost it.  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sasuke yelled, leaping forward and grabbing Shiroi's wrist.  
Sasuke froze as Shiroi's emotionless eyes fixed on him. Damn. He'd lost control. He ruined everything they had accomplished so far…  
Sasuke immediately released the old man's wrist and bowed his head.  
"I'm terribly sorry, master. It's just that I… I care about this boy."  
Shiroi looked at Sasuke for a while, almost like he was examining him.  
"I thought so. Watch out, young ninja. Feelings like this make you weak."  
"I understand…"  
"No matter. I was just testing the blonde boy. I had to check whether the jutsu that was placed on him was strong enough."  
"Strong enough?"  
Sasuke looked up in confusion and Shiroi shook his head.  
"It almost never happens, but if a person has a spirit that is very powerful, it is very difficult to break him and to keep the influence you gain by using the jutsu. Pain usually solves all problems though. Pain breaks willpower and gets you back in control."  
"I think I understand."  
"I'm glad that you do. Two-one-eight!"  
Two-one-eight appeared from a hidden doorway in the room and bowed.  
"Take this one to the silent room. He needs some proper education."  
"Yes, master."

Two-one-eight bowed and disappeared through the hidden doorway taking Naruto with him. Sasuke struggled against the urge to run after them and get the blonde back.  
He wanted to hurt Shiroi for making his love bleed and he wanted to protect Naruto from whatever was waiting for him in the ominous sounding 'silent room'. But he couldn't. He'd mess up the mission if he'd do that now. He had to control himself even though it meant Naruto getting hurt and never being able to forgive himself for that.  
"Now that they're gone, I can tell you more about the scroll. Come with me."  
Shiroi walked Sasuke to a glass table where they sat down on uncomfortable aluminium chairs.

"So, the dragon scroll. I will tell you more about its history first."  
"I thought nobody knew much about its history, master. That nothing else was known besides the fact that this jutsu was created by the Uchiha clan."  
Shiroi smiled proudly.  
"That is true, of course. Until I started researching the past of this scroll."  
Sasuke felt genuine curiosity now. What did this man know that nobody else seemed to know about?  
"Of course, this scroll and the accompanying jutsu were created by the Uchiha clan, but for what purpose? A long time ago, years before the demise of the Uchiha clan, the Uchiha police force was so large that it existed out of many different squads. There were squads that investigated murder cases, squads that arrested petty criminals and squads with purposes that were less clear to the outer world."  
Sasuke knew about this, being an Uchiha himself. What came after this however, was all new to him.

"One of the more obscure squads of the Uchiha police force was the Dragon squad. All members of the dragon squad were trained to be exceptional soldiers and to be perfectly obedient. At some point the dragon squad found themselves under the command of a very ambitious and progressive leader. This man believed, and he was right for believing this, that no man can be perfectly obedient as long as he has free will."  
Sasuke had the unpleasant feeling that he knew what was coming next.

"So, the clever man created the dragon scroll to create a force that was unbeatable, a force that would never betray him and a force that would never give up a fight. His forces weren't allowed to feel anything, so they never got wouldn't get distracted by love, pain or anything else. The man had created the ultimate soldiers. What the man did not expect was that his soldiers would not age, another advantage of his jutsu…"  
Shiroi fell silent and Sasuke waited, growing more impatient by the minute.  
"And what happened then? Why have I never heard of this dragon squad?"  
Shiroi smiled. "The dragon squad did not exist for long. Its existence was kept a secret for years, and just when the squad was assigned their first official mission and left for battle, something very strange happened. The dragon scroll disappeared and the dragon squad returned to the Leaf village without their leader, not remembering anything that had happened after they were under the jutsu of the dragon scroll."  
"What happened to their leader?"  
"Nobody knows."  
"What?"  
"Nobody knows what has happened to that brilliant man. He never returned to the Leaf Village and no one has heard of him ever since. The dragon scroll was taken by the hokage and no one was ever able to figure out how to use the scroll. Not until I took it from Konoha and perfected the jutsu."  
"That's incredible…"  
"Yes. Now stand up, young ninja. I will not allow this jutsu to be lost again. You will learn this jutsu and make sure that my work will not be forgotten. I am old and I need you to preserve my legacy when my body fails me."  
Sasuke felt a shock of excitement as he realised that he would soon get the chance to destroy the scroll and to free Naruto. The moment was finally there.  
"I feel honoured that you decided to share this knowledge with me, master. Thank you…"


End file.
